The difficulty of manipulation and limited availability of genetic tools for use in many pathogenic fungi hamper fast and adequate investigation of cellular metabolism and consequent possibilities for antifungal therapies. S. cerevisiae is a model organism that is used to study many eukaryotic systems. In this review, we analyse the potency and relevance of this model system in investigating fungal susceptibility to azole drugs. Although many of the concepts apply to multiple pathogenic fungi, for the sake of simplicity, we will focus on the validity of using S. cerevisiae as a model organism for two Candida species, C. albicans and C. glabrata. Apart from the general benefits, we explore how S. cerevisiae can specifically be used to improve our knowledge on azole drug resistance and enables fast and efficient screening for novel drug targets in combinatorial therapy. We consider the shortcomings of the model system, yet conclude that it is still opportune to use S. cerevisiae as a model system for pathogenic fungi in this era.

用于许多病原性真菌的操作困难和遗传工具的可用性有限，妨碍了细胞代谢的快速，充分研究，以及随之而来的抗真菌治疗的可能性。酿酒酵母是用于研究许多真核系统的模型生物。在这篇综述中，我们分析了该模型系统在研究真菌对唑类药物敏感性方面的潜力和相关性。虽然许多概念适用于多个致病性真菌中，为了简单起见，我们将集中于使用的有效性酿酒酵母作为两个模式生物念珠菌物种，白色念珠菌和光滑念珠菌。除了一般利益外，我们还探讨了酿酒酵母可以专门用于提高我们对唑类药物耐药性的了解，并可以快速有效地筛选组合疗法中的新型药物靶标。我们考虑了模型系统的缺点，但得出的结论是，在这个时代使用酿酒酵母作为致病真菌的模型系统仍然是适当的。