RNA Biology of Fungal Pathogens

The project of the Unit RNA Biology of Fungal Pathogens deals with the study of the structure and plasticity of the transcriptomes of human fungal pathogens. We are mainly using the basidiomycete yeast Cryptococcus neoformans as model, but we are also considering additional pathogenic or non-pathogenic fungi for comparison. We are mainly interested in three dynamic features of the transcriptome: the introns, the UTRs, and the lncRNAs. Part of the project will use global approaches and diverse omics technologies to create an exhaustive list of all the mRNA and lncRNA molecules in the cells in order to study their differential expression in response to environmental cues. We are also using the strength of yeast genetics to decipher the mechanisms regulating the diversity of these features and the level of gene expression in response to these signals. These basic results are of course applied toward more virulence-oriented questions in studying how the transcriptome structure is regulated during infection and the consequences of these modifications for the fungus and host.