New molecular methods to study gene functions in Candida infections.

Candida albicans has become a model system for human pathogenic fungi in clinical research, mainly due to the increasing number of Candida infections. Molecular techniques to study C. albicans virulence properties have been improved over the last few years, despite difficulties in genetic manipulation of this fungus. Some of the recent achievements from our own laboratory or from other groups are described in this article. The molecular analysis of the recently identified ATP-dependent transporter Mlt1 using the green fluorescent protein (GFP) as reporter for protein localization and the dominant MPAR gene as a selection marker for gene inactivation provides an example for the study of gene functions in C. albicans.