Fungal pathogens exposed: Novel insights into Candida auris and emerging relatives of the Candida haemulonii species complex
Fungal pathogens are on the rise. Annually more than one billion people are affected by superficial, allergic and mucosal fungal infections. However, of highest concern are the life-threatening invasive fungal infections. An increasing at-risk population together with inaccurate diagnostics and limited treatment options led to a dramatic increase in these life-threatening fungal infections and exceptionally high mortality rates, resulting in over 1.6 million deaths caused by fungi each year. Candida species are particularly prevalent in hospital settings and account for more than 750.000 invasive infections each year. This makes Candida one of the most critical groups of fungal pathogens. The last decades an epidemiological shift has been taking place from Candida albicans as the primary cause of invasive Candida infections towards other, often drug resistant, species. Especially Candida auris showed the world the ability of fungi to rapidly emerge as a significant threat to human health. More insights into the ecological mechanisms, phenotypic traits and genomic elements that contribute to the emergence of Candida pathogens, such as C. auris, are essential to both expose current and future pathogens and develop strategies to combat them. In this thesis C. auris and emerging relatives within the Candida haemulonii species complex are characterized using genomic and phenotypic approaches. Pathogenic species are compared to their closest non-pathogenic siblings, exposing specific traits that could contribute to their virulence and emergence in the nosocomial environment. In addition, ways to better understand the epidemiology and improve diagnostic tools for C. auris and the C. haemulonii complex were investigated