Candida albicans' inorganic phosphate transport and evolutionary adaptation to phosphate scarcity.

that transport phosphate into the cell. We found that Pho84 plays the largest role among them across the broadest range of environmental conditions. After eliminating all 4 of these transporters, we let two resulting mutants evolve for two months in limited phosphate and analyzed the growth and stress resistance of the resulting populations. We analyzed genomes of representative populations and found that early adaptations to phosphate scarcity occurred together with major changes to chromosome configurations. In later stages of the adaptation process, these large-scale changes disappeared as populations presumably gained small-scale mutations that increased cells' ability to grow in limited phosphate. Some but not all of these favorable mutations improved resistance of evolving populations to stressors like membrane- and cell wall stress. Pinpointing distinct mutation combinations that affect stress resistance differently in populations adapting to scarce phosphate, may identify useful antifungal drug targets.