Essential Functional Modules for Pathogenic and Defensive Mechanisms in Candida albicans Infections

Figure 2

The functional modules composed of 139 C. albicans proteins found to be significant for pathogenic mechanisms in the infection process. This figure shows the differential PPI network constructed from 139 C. albicans proteins significant in the infection process and the interactions among them. Red and blue edges indicate positive and negative 𝑑_{𝑖𝑗,𝑙} values, respectively, as calculated using (2). The orange nodes represent the significant proteins, that is, proteins with SVV 𝑃 values ≤ 0.05. There were nine enriched C. albicans functional modules occurring in host-pathogen interactions, playing roles in such processes as hyphal morphogenesis, ion and small molecule transport, protein secretion, shifts in carbon utilization, stress responses, protein metabolism and catabolism, signal transduction, transcription-related processes, and other processes. The functional modules marked with blue circles were investigated in this study. The figure was created using Cytoscape plugin Cerebral [18, 19]. The names of the proteins have been omitted for simplicity.