A groundbreaking study from Michigan State University (MSU), published in Nature Communications, reveals how the multidrug-resistant superfungus Candida auris uniquely reconstructs its cell wall to outlive antifungal remedies. The discovery marks a major step towards understanding and combating one of the crucial harmful fungal pathogens threatening hospitalized sufferers worldwide.
Led by Tuo Wang, a Carl Brubaker Endowed Professor within the Department of Chemistry, the analysis compares C. auris with its extra widespread relative, Candida albicans. While each species share related cell wall buildings, the research exhibits they deploy markedly completely different methods to withstand echinocandins—a category of frontline antifungal medication.
“Invasive infections by Candida species are a rising menace, particularly with the rise of drug-resistant species like C. auris and problems from COVID-19-related candidiasis,” stated Wang. “Our study offers high-resolution perception into how these fungi adapt to remedy.”
Using superior solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, the crew discovered that each fungi {experience} stiffening of key cell wall polysaccharides—comparable to ?-1,6-glucans and mannan sidechains—when handled with the antifungal drug caspofungin.
However, whereas C. albicans thickens its cell wall and alters chitin and glucan dynamics in response, C. auris takes a unique method: it will increase manufacturing of ?-1,6-glucan to protect its structural integrity.
The study additionally sheds gentle on the long-mysterious function of ?-1,6-glucan, an underexplored element of fungal cell partitions that seems to play a important function in drug resistance.
“Gene deletion and subsequent structural evaluation revealed that ?-1,6-glucan is instantly tied to how C. auris responds to antifungal medication like micafungin and caspofungin,” Wang defined.
The interdisciplinary analysis crew included MSU graduate college students Kalpana Singh and Malitha Dickwella Widanage, visiting scholar Yifan Xu (now getting into MSU’s Chemistry Ph.D. program), and postdoctoral affiliate Jayasubba Reddy Yarava.
This interdisciplinary effort was strengthened by contributions from main microbiologists, together with Dr. Frederic Lamoth’s crew at Lausanne University Hospital and the University of Lausanne (Switzerland), Dr. Neil A. R. Gow of the University of Exeter (UK), and Dr. Ping Wang of Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center.
The analysis additionally benefited from entry to state-of-the-art instrumentation on the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (Tallahassee, Florida), with technical assist from Dr. Frederic Mentink-Vigier and Dr. Faith Scott.
Ultimately, the analysis not solely clarifies how C. auris survives drug remedy but in addition gives a roadmap for designing more practical antifungal therapies sooner or later by concentrating on species-specific structural diversifications.
More info:
Malitha C. Dickwella Widanage et al, Distinct echinocandin responses of Candida albicans and Candida auris cell partitions revealed by solid-state NMR, Nature Communications (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-61678-1
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Research reveals how the superfungus Candida auris withstands antifungal remedy ( 16)
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