Visualizing fungal infections deep in living host tissue reveals proline metabolism facilitates virulence

An international team of scientists, led by researchers from the Department of Molecular Biosciences, The Wenner-Gren Institute, SciLifeLab, Stockholm University has published in PLoS Pathogens the first successful application of two-photon intravital microscopy (IVM) to image the dynamics of fungal infections in the kidney of a living host. The study reveals that the opportunistic human fungal pathogen Candida albicans requires the ability to metabolize proline, an amino acid obtained from the host, to mount virulent infections.