The RAM signaling pathway links morphology, thermotolerance, and CO₂ tolerance in the global fungal pathogen <i>Cryptococcus neoformans</i>.

Abstract

The environmental pathogen <i>Cryptococcus neoformans</i> claims over 180,000 lives each year. Survival of this basidiomycete at host CO₂ concentrations has only recently been considered an important virulence trait. Through screening gene knockout libraries constructed in a CO₂-tolerant clinical strain, we found mutations leading to CO₂ sensitivity are enriched in pathways activated by heat stress, including calcineurin, Ras1-Cdc24, cell wall integrity, and <i>R</i>egulator of <i>A</i>ce2 and <i>M</i>orphogenesis (RAM). Overexpression of Cbk1, the conserved terminal kinase of the RAM pathway, partially restored defects of these mutants at host CO₂ or temperature levels. In ascomycetes such as <i>Saccharomyces cerevisiae</i> and <i>Candida albicans</i>, transcription factor Ace2 is an important target of Cbk1, activating genes responsible for cell separation. However, no Ace2 homolog or any downstream component of the RAM pathway has been identified in basidiomycetes. Through in vitro evolution and comparative genomics, we characterized mutations in suppressors of <i>cbk1</i>Δ in <i>C. neoformans</i> that partially rescued defects in CO₂ tolerance, thermotolerance, and morphology. One suppressor is the RNA translation repressor Ssd1, which is highly conserved in ascomycetes and basidiomycetes. The other is a novel ribonuclease domain-containing protein, here named <i>PSC1</i>, which is present in basidiomycetes and humans but surprisingly absent in most ascomycetes. Loss of Ssd1 in <i>cbk1</i>Δ partially restored cryptococcal ability to survive and amplify in the inhalation and intravenous murine models of cryptococcosis. Our discoveries highlight the overlapping regulation of CO₂ tolerance and thermotolerance, the essential role of the RAM pathway in cryptococcal adaptation to the host condition, and the potential importance of post-transcriptional control of virulence traits in this global pathogen.