Regulation of cell cycle and virulence in pathogenic fungi

How growth and cell cycle progression are coordinately regulated during development in eukaryotic organisms is an active area of research. However, little knowledge has been provided to understand how these processes are related to the induction of the virulence program in pathogenic fungi and to define the role of cell cycle and morphogenetic regulators as true virulence factors. The main idea we are trying to address is to assume that cell cycle and morphogenetic regulators could have in pathogenic fungi new roles dedicated to adapt the cell cycle and morphogenesis to the virulence program. Until now, the main experimental approaches to define and to study the regulation of the pathogenic developmental programs in fungi have focused on the study of signal transduction and transcriptional changes. Therefore, our research lines offer original opportunities to address the molecular basis of fungal pathogenicity under a novel point of view, complementary to the previous ones.