Bekirian, C.; Valsecchi, I.; Bachellier-Bassi, S.; Scandola, C.; Guijarro, J. I.; Chauvel, M.; Mourer, T.; Gow, N.; Aimanianda Bopaiah, V. K.; d'Enfert, C.; Fontaine, T.

The cell wall of human fungal pathogens plays critical roles as an architectural scaffold and as a target and modulator of the host immune response. Although the cell wall of the pathogenic yeast Candida albicans is intensively studied, one of the major fibrillar components in its cell wall, beta-1,6-glucan, has been largely neglected. Here, we show that beta-1,6-glucan is essential for bilayered cell wall organization, cell wall integrity and filamentous growth. For the first time, we show that beta-1,6-glucan production compensates the defect in mannan elongation in the outer layer of the cell wall. In addition, beta-1,6-glucan dynamics are also coordinated by host environmental stimuli and stresses with wall remodeling, where the regulation of beta-1,6-glucan structure and chain length is a crucial process. As we point out that beta-1,6-glucan is exposed at the yeast surface and modulate immune response, beta-1,6-glucan must be considered a key factor in host-pathogen interactions.