The H741D mutation in Tac1p contributes to the upregulation of CDR1 and CDR2 expression in Candida albicans

The wide use of antifungal agents has led to the development of resistance in the pathogenic yeast strain Candida albicans. Gain-of-function mutations in transcription factors such as Tac1p demonstrated their ability to control expression of the ABC transporter genes CDR1 and CDR2, and mediation of azole resistance. Previously, we obtained a series of azole-resistant isolates with high-level expression of CDR1 or/and CDR2, and identified the novel H741D mutation in Tac1p. In the present study, the TAC1 alleles from isolate C13 were introduced into tac1Δ/Δ mutant. The H741D change was seen in TAC1(C13) in addition to several other amino acid differences. Hyperactive alleles TAC1(C13) exhibited higher minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of fluconazole and itraconazole than that observed in SN152 containing the wild-type TAC1 allele. And alleles TAC1(C13) conferred constitutively high levels of Cdr1p and Cdr2p. Moreover, the importance of H741D in conferring hyperactivity to TAC1 was also confirmed by site-directed mutagenesis. Compared with SN152, the presence of H741D resulted in > 2-fold increase in CDR1 and CDR2 gene and protein expression, > 4-fold increase in fluconazole and itraconazole MICs and higher rates of Rhodamine 6G efflux by 43.24%. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s42770-020-00336-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.