The Cwr1 protein kinase localizes to the plasma membrane and mediates resistance to cell wall stress in <i>Candida albicans</i>

The ability of <i>Candida albicans</i> to grow invasively in the host and resist stress is critical for it to be an effective human pathogen. Identifying the genes that promote these processes is important for developing new strategies to block infection. Therefore, genetic methods were used in this study to identify a novel gene that is needed for invasive growth and stress resistance (Cell Wall Regulatory kinase [<i>CWR1</i>]). Interestingly, the Cwr1 protein localized to punctate patches in the plasma membrane, some of which co-localized with specialized subdomains of the plasma membrane known as eisosomes that are known to promote stress resistance and invasive growth in the host. Thus, these studies identified a novel regulator of traits that are critical for <i>C. albicans</i> pathogenesis.