Open AccessAntigenic and phenotypic variations in fungi
Author(s) -
Jain Neena,
Fries Bettina C.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
cellular microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.542
H-Index - 138
eISSN - 1462-5822
pISSN - 1462-5814
DOI - 10.1111/j.1462-5822.2009.01384.x
Subject(s) - biology , phenotype , antigenic variation , population , antigen , epitope , phenotypic switching , evolutionary biology , genetics , gene , demography , sociology
Summary Mechanisms to vary the phenotypic characteristics of fungi are diverse and can be important for their life cycle. This review summarizes phenotypic variability in fungi and divides this phenomenon into three topics: (i) morphological transitions, which are environmentally induced and involve the entire fungal population, (ii) reversible phenotypic switching between different colony morphologies, which is restricted to a small fraction of the population, and (iii) antigenic variation of surface antigens, which can be immuno‐dominant epitopes happens in individual fungal cells.