Stress- and metabolic responses of Candida albicans require Tor1 kinase N-terminal HEAT repeats

Abstract

Whether to commit limited cellular resources toward growth and proliferation, or toward survival and stress responses, is an essential determination made by Target of Rapamycin Complex 1 (TORC1) for a eukaryotic cell in response to favorable or adverse conditions. Loss of TORC1 function is lethal. The TORC1 inhibitor rapamycin that targets the highly conserved Tor kinase domain kills fungal pathogens like Candida albicans, but is also severely toxic to human cells. The least conserved region of fungal and human Tor kinases are the N-terminal HEAT domains. We examined the role of the 8 most N-terminal HEAT repeats of C. albicans Tor1. We compared nutritional- and stress responses of cells expressing a message for N-terminally truncated Tor1 from repressible tetO, with cells expressing a wild type TOR1 allele from tetO or from the native promoter. Some but not all stress responses were significantly impaired by loss of Tor1 N-terminal HEAT repeats, including those to oxidative-, cell wall-, and heat stress; in contrast, plasma membrane stress and antifungal agents that disrupt plasma membrane function were tolerated by cells lacking this Tor1 region. Translation was inappropriately upregulated during oxidative stress in cells lacking N-terminal Tor1 HEAT repeats despite simultaneously elevated Gcn2 activity, while activation of the oxidative stress response MAP kinase Hog1 was weak. Conversely, these cells were unable to take advantage of favorable nutritional conditions by accelerating their growth. While consuming oxygen more slowly than cells containing wild type TOR1 alleles during growth in glucose, cells lacking N-terminal Tor1 HEAT repeats were capable of utilizing non-fermentable as well as fermentable carbon sources and of growth during severe acid stress, but were uniquely unable to grow on lactate. Genome-wide expression analysis showed paradoxical simultaneous activation of anabolic- and starvation responses in cells lacking Tor1 N-terminal HEAT repeats, with misregulation of carbon metabolism and of translational machinery biosynthesis. Targeting fungal-specific Tor1 N-terminal HEAT repeats with small molecules might abrogate fungal viability, especially when during infection multiple stresses are imposed by the host immune system.