Candida albicans Mitochondrial Protein Import Assay
Abstract
We have established the use of Candida albicans as a new model system to study mitochondrial biogenesis. This dimorphic yeast provides an excellent system to investigate the coordination of mitochondrial biogenesis with other cellular networks including cellular metabolism and the cell cycle. Unlike the model lab yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, C. albicans is not subject to the Crabtree effect and hence grows aerobically in glucose when oxygen is present. Therefore the control of mitochondrial biogenesis in C. albicans is more typical of eukaryotic cells. C. albicans has a fully sequenced genome and there are many published tools for genetic manipulation facilitating Systems Biology approaches. The isolation of mitochondria (as described in the protocol: Preparation of Mitochondria from Candida albicans) (Hewitt et al., 2013) produces a more simplified system that can be interrogated using the standard tools of molecular biology. In addition, the import of radiolabelled proteins described in this protocol is a sensitive technique that can be used to determine details of kinetics and interactions of imported proteins.
Date
01-02-2013Author
Victoria Hewitt
Trevor Lithgow
Ana Traven
