Iron is an essential micronutrient for virtually all eukaryotic organisms and plays a central role during microbial infections. Invasive fungal diseases are associated with strikingly high rates of mortality, but their impact on human health is usually underestimated. Upon a fungal infection, hosts restrict iron availability in order to limit the growth and virulence of the pathogen. Here, we use two model yeasts, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Schizosaccharomyces pombe, to delve into the response to iron deficiency of human fungal pathogens, such as Candida glabrata, Candida albicans, Aspergillus fumigatus and Cryptococcus neoformans. Fungi possess common and species-specific mechanisms to acquire iron and to control the response to iron limitation. Upon iron scarcity, fungi activate a wide range of elegant strategies to capture and import exogenous iron, mobilize iron from intracellular stores, and modulate their metabolism to economize and prioritize iron utilization. Hence, iron homeostasis genes represent remarkable virulence factors that can be used as targets for the development of novel antifungal treatments.

铁是几乎所有真核生物必不可少的微量营养素，在微生物感染中起着核心作用。侵袭性真菌疾病的死亡率高得惊人，但是它们对人类健康的影响通常被低估了。真菌感染后，宿主会限制铁的有效性，以限制病原体的生长和毒力。在这里，我们使用两种模型酵母，即酿酒酵母和粟酒裂殖酵母，来研究人真菌病原体（如光滑念珠菌，白色念珠菌，烟曲霉和新型隐球菌）对铁缺乏的反应。。真菌具有常见的和物种特定的机制来获取铁并控制对铁限制的响应。缺铁时，真菌会激活各种优雅的策略来捕获和导入外源铁，从细胞内存储中动员铁，并调节其新陈代谢以节省铁并优先利用铁。因此，铁稳态基因代表了显着的毒力因子，可以用作开发新型抗真菌治疗的靶标。