Genome-wide analysis of heat stress-stimulated transposon mobility in the human fungal pathogen <i>Cryptococcus deneoformans</i>
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Abstract We recently reported transposon mutagenesis as a significant driver of spontaneous mutations in the human fungal pathogen Cryptococcus deneoformans during murine infection. Mutations caused by transposable element (TE) insertion into reporter genes were dramatically elevated at high temperature (37° versus 30°) in vitro, suggesting that heat stress stimulates TE mobility in the Cryptococcus genome. To explore the genome-wide impact of TE mobilization, we generated transposon accumulation lines by in vitro passage of C. deneoformans strain XL280α for multiple generations at both 30° and at the host-relevant temperature of 37°. Utilizing whole-genome sequencing, we identified native TE copies and mapped multiple de novo TE insertions in these lines. Movements of the T1 DNA transposon occurred at both temperatures with a strong bias for insertion between gene-coding regions. By contrast, the Tcn12 retrotransposon integrated primarily within genes and movement occurred exclusively at 37°. In addition, we observed a dramatic amplification in copy number of the Cnl1 ( C. neoformans LINE-1) retrotransposon in sub-telomeric regions under heat-stress conditions. Comparing TE mutations to other sequence variations detected in passaged lines, the increase in genomic changes at elevated temperature was primarily due to mobilization of the retroelements Tcn12 and Cnl1. Finally, we found multiple TE movements (T1, Tcn12 and Cnl1) in the genomes of single C. deneoformans isolates recovered from infected mice, providing evidence that mobile elements are likely to facilitate microevolution and rapid adaptation during infection. Significance Statement Rising global temperatures and climate change are predicted to increase fungal diseases in plants and mammals. However, the impact of heat stress on genetic changes in environmental fungi is largely unexplored. Environmental stressors can stimulate the movement of mobile DNA elements (transposons) within the genome to alter the genetic landscape. This report provides a genome-wide assessment of heat stress-induced transposon mobilization in the human fungal pathogen Cryptococcus. Transposon copies accumulated in genomes more rapidly following growth at the higher, host-relevant temperature. Additionally, movements of multiple elements were detected in the genomes of cryptococci recovered from infected mice. These findings suggest that heat stress-stimulated transposon mobility contributes to rapid adaptive changes in fungi both in the environment and during infection.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".