{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,8]],"date-time":"2026-10-08T21:33:01Z","timestamp":1791495181318,"version":"4.3.4"},"reference-count":32,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,29]],"date-time":"2026-06-29T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1782691200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Microbiol."],"abstract":"\n Candida albicans<\/jats:italic>\n employs the\n ALS<\/jats:italic>\n (Agglutinin-Like Sequence) gene family to encode cell-surface adhesins that are central to host colonization, tissue invasion, and biofilm formation. Although individual\n ALS<\/jats:italic>\n genes have been studied under specific conditions, no systematic, multi-inducer temporal analysis of the entire family has been reported to date. In this study, we present the first comprehensive temporal expression profiling of seven\n ALS<\/jats:italic>\n genes (\n ALS1<\/jats:italic>\n -\n ALS5<\/jats:italic>\n ,\n ALS7<\/jats:italic>\n , and\n ALS9<\/jats:italic>\n ) under six host-relevant inducers, temperature (37 \u00b0C), neutral pH, serum, glucose,\n N<\/jats:italic>\n -acetylglucosamine (NAG), and proline, across four time points (45\u202fmin, 90\u202fmin, 3\u202fh, 6\u202fh) in both yeast (30 \u00b0C) and hyphal (37 \u00b0C) growth phases. Morphological analysis confirmed that 37 \u00b0C and serum were the most potent hyphal inducers (94.13\u202f\u00b1\u202f0.94% hyphae with serum at 37 \u00b0C). Quantitative PCR revealed a temporally stratified regulatory program: early-phase adhesins (\n ALS1<\/jats:italic>\n ,\n ALS2<\/jats:italic>\n ) showed transient induction during the first 90\u202fmin, whereas invasion-associated genes exhibited sustained late-phase activation. Notably,\n ALS3<\/jats:italic>\n displayed exceptional upregulation under glucose at 37 \u00b0C (25.17\u202f\u00b1\u202f1.76-fold at 6\u202fh;\n p<\/jats:italic>\n \u202f&lt;\u202f0.001) and responded robustly to all inducers except serum.\n ALS7<\/jats:italic>\n reached 9.48-fold induction specifically under thermal stress, while\n ALS5<\/jats:italic>\n was preferentially expressed at 30\u202f\u00b0C (6.70-fold under neutral pH), indicating niche-specific functional specialization.\n In silico<\/jats:italic>\n promoter analysis linked these expression patterns to binding motifs for key transcription factors (Efg1, Cph1, Rim101, and Nrg1). Phylogenetic analysis revealed functional conservation of\n ALS2<\/jats:italic>\n \/\n ALS4<\/jats:italic>\n versus evolutionary divergence in\n ALS6<\/jats:italic>\n \/\n ALS7<\/jats:italic>\n \/\n ALS9<\/jats:italic>\n . STRING-based protein interaction networks confirmed the central involvement of ALS proteins in adhesion and biofilm regulatory circuits. These findings establish a molecular framework for niche-specific virulence, identifying\n ALS3<\/jats:italic>\n as a prime therapeutic target for anti-adhesion strategies in invasive candidiasis. We hypothesize that\n C. albicans<\/jats:italic>\n employs a temporally stratified and inducer-specific transcriptional program of the ALS family to adapt its surface architecture to diverse host microenvironments.\n <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fmicb.2026.1848556","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,29]],"date-time":"2026-06-29T05:40:58Z","timestamp":1782711658000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Context-dependent reprogramming of ALS adhesin expression in Candida albicans: a multi-inducer analysis linking morphogenesis to virulence plasticity"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Radfan","family":"Ahmed","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Life Sciences, Swami Ramanand Teerth Marathwada University","place":["Nanded, Maharashtra, India"]},{"name":"Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Albaydha University","place":["Albaydha, Yemen"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Arvind","family":"Kayande","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Central University of Rajasthan","place":["Kishangarh, India"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rajendra","family":"Patil","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biotechnology, Savitribai Phule Pune University","place":["Pune, Maharashtra, India"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Amruta","family":"Shelar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Technology, Savitribai Phule Pune University","place":["Pune, Maharashtra, India"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Gajanan B.","family":"Zore","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Life Sciences, Swami Ramanand Teerth Marathwada University","place":["Nanded, Maharashtra, India"]},{"name":"Department of Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Central University of Rajasthan","place":["Kishangarh, India"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,29]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"682","DOI":"10.1128\/EC.00340-06","article-title":"Developmental regulation of an adhesin gene during cellular morphogenesis in the fungal pathogen Candida albicans","volume":"6","author":"Argim\u00f3n","year":"2007","journal-title":"Eukaryot. 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