Asymmetric distribution of phosphatidylethanolamine in C. albicans: possible mediation by CDR1, a multidrug transporter belonging to ATP binding cassette (ABC) superfamily.

By using two molecular probes, we demonstrate that only 4% of total phosphatidylethanolamine (PtdEtn) in the plasma membrane (PM) of a human pathogenic yeast, Candida albicans, is present in its external half. Evidence is presented to show that the availability of PtdEtn could be related to the expression of a multidrug transporter CDR1 of C. albicans, and the process is energy-dependent. A homozygous CDR1 disruptant strain of C. albicans shows almost 23% reduction in the external labelling of PtdEtn. This report shows that, similar to human MDRs, yeast multidrug transporter could also be involved in aminophospholipid translocation.