{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,14]],"date-time":"2026-01-14T00:46:21Z","timestamp":1768351581172,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":49,"publisher":"American Society for Microbiology","issue":"10","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,8]],"date-time":"2025-10-08T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1759881600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,8]],"date-time":"2025-10-08T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1759881600000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.asm.org\/non-commercial-tdm-license"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.asm.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["mBio"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,8]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>ABSTRACT<\/jats:title>\n          <jats:sec>\n            <jats:title\/>\n            <jats:p>\n              The fungal pathogen\n              <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Candida albicans<\/jats:italic>\n              colonizes the human gut, where short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) serve as a source of carbon. This fungus harbors one of the largest microbial families of\n              <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">ATO<\/jats:italic>\n              (acetate transporter ortholog) genes, which encode putative SCFA transport proteins. Here, we generate\n              <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">C. albicans<\/jats:italic>\n              null mutants lacking individual or all known putative SCFA transporter genes and compare their phenotypes\n              <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">in vitro<\/jats:italic>\n              and\n              <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">in vivo<\/jats:italic>\n              . We show that blocking\n              <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">ATO<\/jats:italic>\n              function in\n              <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">C. albicans<\/jats:italic>\n              impairs SCFA uptake and growth, particularly on acetate. The uptake of acetate is largely dependent on a functional Ato1 (also known as Frp3\/Ato3), and it is effectively abolished upon deletion of all\n              <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">ATO<\/jats:italic>\n              genes. We further demonstrate that deletion of the entire\n              <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">ATO<\/jats:italic>\n              gene family, but not inactivation of\n              <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">ATO1<\/jats:italic>\n              alone, compromises the stable colonization of\n              <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">C. albicans<\/jats:italic>\n              in the murine gastrointestinal tract following bacterial disruption by broad-spectrum antibiotics. Our data suggest that the\n              <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">ATO<\/jats:italic>\n              gene family has expanded and diversified during the evolution of\n              <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">C. albicans<\/jats:italic>\n              to promote the fitness of this fungal commensal during gut colonization, in part through SCFA utilization.\n            <\/jats:p>\n            <jats:sec>\n              <jats:title>IMPORTANCE<\/jats:title>\n              <jats:p>\n                The human gut is rich in microbial fermentation products such as short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), which serve as key nutrients for both bacteria and fungi.\n                <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">C. albicans<\/jats:italic>\n                , a common fungal resident of the gut and a cause of opportunistic infections, carries an unusually large family of\n                <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">ATO<\/jats:italic>\n                (acetate transporter ortholog) genes. This study reveals that this\n                <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">ATO<\/jats:italic>\n                gene family is required for the efficient uptake of acetate, the most abundant SCFA in the gut, and for stable colonization of the gut. These findings uncover a new layer of metabolic adaptation in fungal commensals of humans and suggest that transporter gene expansion can shape microbial fitness in response to environmental nutrient signals.\n              <\/jats:p>\n            <\/jats:sec>\n          <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1128\/mbio.01644-25","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,3]],"date-time":"2025-09-03T13:00:28Z","timestamp":1756904428000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1128\/asmj-crossmark-policy-page","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["The\n            <i>ATO<\/i>\n            gene family governs\n            <i>Candida albicans<\/i>\n            colonization in the dysbiotic gastrointestinal tract"],"prefix":"10.1128","volume":"16","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9444-4478","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Rosana","family":"Alves","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre of Molecular and Environmental Biology (CBMA), Campus de Gualtar, University of Minho","place":["Braga, Portugal"]}]},{"given":"Faezeh","family":"Ghasemi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre of Molecular and Environmental Biology (CBMA), Campus de Gualtar, University of Minho","place":["Braga, Portugal"]}]},{"given":"Wouter","family":"Van Genechten","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/05f950310","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Laboratory of Molecular Cell Biology, KU Leuven","place":["Leuven, Belgium"]}]},{"given":"Stefanie","family":"Wijnants","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/05f950310","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Laboratory of Molecular Cell Biology, KU Leuven","place":["Leuven, Belgium"]}]},{"given":"Odessa","family":"Van Goethem","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/05f950310","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Laboratory of Molecular Cell Biology, KU Leuven","place":["Leuven, Belgium"]}]},{"given":"Cl\u00e1udia","family":"Barata-Antunes","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre of Molecular and Environmental Biology (CBMA), Campus de Gualtar, University of Minho","place":["Braga, Portugal"]}]},{"given":"Vitor","family":"Fernandes","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre of Molecular and Environmental Biology (CBMA), Campus de Gualtar, University of Minho","place":["Braga, Portugal"]}]},{"given":"Patr\u00edcia","family":"Ata\u00edde","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre of Molecular and Environmental Biology (CBMA), Campus de Gualtar, University of Minho","place":["Braga, Portugal"]}]},{"given":"Alexandra","family":"Gomes-Gon\u00e7alves","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre of Molecular and Environmental Biology (CBMA), Campus de Gualtar, University of Minho","place":["Braga, Portugal"]}]},{"given":"Rudy","family":"Vergauwen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/05f950310","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Laboratory of Molecular Cell Biology, KU Leuven","place":["Leuven, Belgium"]}]},{"given":"Qinxi","family":"Ma","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/00vbzva31","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Medical Research Council Centre for Medical Mycology at the University of Exeter","place":["Exeter, United Kingtom"]}]},{"given":"Ricardo","family":"Duarte","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre of Molecular and Environmental Biology (CBMA), Campus de Gualtar, University of Minho","place":["Braga, Portugal"]}]},{"given":"Isabel","family":"Soares-Silva","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre of Molecular and Environmental Biology (CBMA), Campus de Gualtar, University of Minho","place":["Braga, Portugal"]}]},{"given":"Margarida","family":"Casal","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre of Molecular and Environmental Biology (CBMA), Campus de Gualtar, University of Minho","place":["Braga, Portugal"]}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1406-4251","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Alistair J. 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