Ribosome profiling reveals differences in global translational vs transcriptional gene expression changes during early Candida albicans biofilm formation

Candida albicans, a major human fungal pathogen, can form biofilms on a variety of inert and biological surfaces. C. albicans biofilms allow for immune evasion, are highly resistant to antifungal therapies, and represent a significant complication for a wide variety of immunocompromised patients in clinical settings. While transcriptional regulators and global transcriptional profiles of C. albicans biofilm formation have been well-characterized, much less is known about translational regulation of this important C. albicans virulence property. Here, using ribosome profiling, we define the first global translational profile of genes that are expressed during early biofilm development in a human fungal pathogen, C. albicans. We show that C. albicans biofilm formation involves altered translational regulation of genes and gene classes associated with protein synthesis, pathogenesis, transport, plasma membrane, polarized growth, cell cycle, secretion, and signal transduction. Interestingly, while similar, but not identical, classes of genes showed transcriptional alterations during early C. albicans biofilm development, we observed very little overlap between specific genes that are upregulated or downregulated at the translational vs transcriptional levels. Our results suggest that distinct translational mechanisms play an important role in regulating early biofilm development of a major human fungal pathogen. These mechanisms, in turn, could serve as potential targets for novel antifungal strategies.