Phenotypic switching

Phenotypic switching is switching between multiple cellular morphologies. David R. Soll described two such systems: the first high frequency switching system between several morphological stages and a second high frequency switching system between opaque and white cells. The latter is an epigenetic switching system[1][2]

Phenotypic switching in Candida albicans is often used to refer to the epigenetic white-to-opaque switching system. C. albicans needs this switch for sexual mating.[3] Next to the two above mentioned switching systems many other switching systems are known in C. albicans.[4]

A second example occurs in melanoma, where malignantly transformed pigment cells switch back-and-forth between phenotypes of proliferation and invasion in response to changing microenvironments, driving metastatic progression.[5][6][7]

## See also

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* Polyphenism

## References

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1. ^ Zordan, R. E.; Galgoczy, D. J.; Johnson, A. D. (2006). "Epigenetic properties of white-opaque switching in Candida albicans are based on a self-sustaining transcriptional feedback loop". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 103 (34): 12807–12812. doi:10.1073/pnas.0605138103. PMC 1535343. PMID 16899543.
2. ^ Slutsky, B; Buffo, J; Soll, D. R. (1985). "High-frequency switching of colony morphology in Candida albicans". Science. 230 (4726): 666–9. Bibcode:1985Sci...230..666S. doi:10.1126/science.3901258. PMID 3901258.
3. ^ Rikkerrink E, Magee B, Magee P (1988). "Opaque-white phenotype transition: a programmed morphological transition in Candida albicans". J. Bacteriol. 170 (2): 895–899. doi:10.1128/jb.170.2.895-899.1988. PMC 210739. PMID 2828333.
4. ^ Soll DR (2014). "The role of phenotypic switching in the basic biology and pathogenesis of Candida albicans". J Oral Microbiol. 6 (2): 895–9. doi:10.3402/jom.v6.22993. PMC 3895265. PMID 24455104.
5. ^ Hoek KS, Eichhoff OM, Schlegel NC, Dobbeling U, Kobert N, Schaerer L, Hemmi S, Dummer R (2008). "In vivo switching of human melanoma cells between proliferative and invasive states" (PDF). Cancer Res. 68 (3): 650–6. doi:10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-07-2491. PMID 18245463.
6. ^ Hoek KS, Goding CR (2010). "Cancer stem cells versus phenotype-switching in melanoma". Pigment Cell Melanoma Res. 23 (6): 746–59. doi:10.1111/j.1755-148X.2010.00757.x. PMID 20726948.
7. ^ Saez-Ayala M, Montenegro MF, Sanchez-del-Campo L, Fernandez-Perez MP, Chazarra S, Freter R, Middleton M, Pinero-Madrona A, Cabezas-Herrera J, Goding CR, Rodriguez-Lopez JN (2013). "Directed phenotype switching as an effective antimelanoma strategy". Cancer Cell. 24 (1): 105–19. doi:10.1016/j.ccr.2013.05.009. PMID 23792190.

## External links

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* Neville SE, Baigent S, Lowry PJ (December 2001). "Are Hox genes responsible for the phenotypic switching and zonation of the adult adrenal cortex?". Endocrine Abstracts. 2: 52.
* D'Souza CA, Heitman J (December 2001). "It infects me, it infects me not: phenotypic switching in the fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans". J. Clin. Invest. 108 (11): 1577–8. doi:10.1172/JCI14497. PMC 200997. PMID 11733551.
* Sonneborn A, Tebarth B, Ernst JF (1 September 1999). "Control of white-opaque phenotypic switching in Candida albicans by the Efg1p morphogenetic regulator". Infect. Immun. 67 (9): 4655–60. doi:10.1128/IAI.67.9.4655-4660.1999. PMC 96790. PMID 10456912.
* Javan C, Shaunak S (January 22–26, 1997). "Repeated phenotypic switching of HIV-1 in AIDS patients sampled regularly over 2 years.". 4th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections. Washington, DC. Archived from the original on 2006-06-26. Retrieved 2005-11-23.