Open AccessWidespread occurrence of chromosomal aneuploidy following the routine production of Candida albicans mutants
Author(s) -
Arbour Mélanie,
Epp Elias,
Hogues Hervé,
Sellam Adnane,
Lacroix Celine,
Rauceo Jason,
Mitchell Aaron,
Whiteway Malcolm,
Nantel André
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
fems yeast research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.991
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 1567-1364
pISSN - 1567-1356
DOI - 10.1111/j.1567-1364.2009.00563.x
Subject(s) - biology , aneuploidy , candida albicans , genetics , chromosome , mutant , corpus albicans , multiplex , microbiology and biotechnology , gene
It has come to our attention that approximately 35% of >100 published microarray datasets, where transcript levels were compared between two different strains, exhibit some form of chromosome‐specific bias. While some of these arose from the use of strains whose aneuploidies were not known at the time, in a worrisome number of cases the recombinant strains have acquired additional aneuploidies that were not initially present in the parental strain. The aneuploidies often affected a different chromosome than the one harboring the insertion site. The affected strains originated from either CAI‐4, RM1000, BWP17 or SN95 and were produced through a variety of strategies. These observations suggest that aneuploidies frequently occur during the production of recombinant strains and have an effect on global transcript profiles outside of the afflicted chromosome(s), thus raising the possibility of unintended phenotypic consequences. Thus, we propose that all Candida albicans mutants and strains should be tested for aneuploidy before being used in further studies. To this end, we describe a new rapid testing method, based on a multiplex quantitative PCR assay, that produces eight bands of distinct sizes from either the left or right arms of each C. albicans chromosome.