Immunology Graduate Program | University of California, San Francisco

Anita Sil, MD, PhD

Pathogenesis of Histoplasma Capsulatum

Assistant Professor, Departments of Microbiology and Immunology
513 Parnassus, S-469 Box 0414
University of California San Francisco
San Francisco, CA 94143-0414

(415) 502-1805 tel
Anita.Sil@ucsf.edu

Lab website

Description of Research

Our laboratory uses genetics and genomics to understand the biology of the fungal pathogen Histoplasma capsulatum and its interaction with host immune cells. First identified in 1906, H. capsulatum is thought to be the most common cause of fungal respiratory infections in the world. Very little is known about H. capsulatum biology. H. capsulatum grows in an infectious filamentous form in the soil, and in a parasitic yeast form in the host. We are using new technologies to investigating how H. capsulatum alters its growth program in response to its environment. For example, we have identified the first genes that are required to switch the organism from the soil form to the host form in response to host signals such as temperature. In addition, we are studying how H. capsulatum manipulates the mammalian immune system to cause disease. We are using the transcriptional profile of macrophages in response to H. capsulatum infection as a molecular read-out to monitor the dialog between host and pathogen.

Hwang L, Hocking-Murray D, Bahrami A, Andersson M, Rine J, and Sil A . (2003) Identifying Phase-Specific Genes in the Fungal Pathogen Histoplasma capsulatum Using a Genomic Shotgun Microarray. Molecular Biology of the Cell 14: 2314-2326.

McBride HJ*, Sil A* , Measday V, Yu Y, Moffat J, Maxon ME, Herskowitz I, Andrews B, and Stillman DJ. (2001) The protein kinase Pho85 is required for asymmetric accumulation of the Ash1 Protein in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Molecular Microbiology, 42: 345-53.
*These two authors contributed equally to this work.

Takizawa PA, Sil A , Swedlow JR, Herskowitz I, Vale RD. (1997) Actin-dependent localization of an RNA encoding a cell-fate determinant in yeast. Nature 389: 90-93.

Sil A , and Herskowitz I. (1996) Identification of an Asymmetrically Localized Determinant Required for Lineage-Specific Transcription of the Yeast HO Gene. Cell 84: 711-722.

Nittler, M.P., Hocking-Murray, D., Foo, C.K., and Sil A . (2005) Identification of Histoplasma capsulatum Transcripts Induced in Response to Reactive Nitrogen Species. Mol. Biol. Cell, 16: 4792-4813.

Sil A . (2005) Using genomics to study the life cycle of H. capsulatum. In "Fungal Genomics" (Ed. Brown, A.J.P.) Mycota XIII, Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg, pp219-234.