Home • Cryptococcus gattii WM276
The image of Cryptococcus gattii
The image of Cryptococcus gattii [Image credit: Jim Kronstad]

The genome sequence and gene models of Cryptococcus gattii WM276 were not determined by the Joint Genome Institute (JGI), but were downloaded from Ensembl Fungi on April 11, 2020. Please note that this copy of the genome is not maintained by Ensembl and is therefore not automatically updated. The JGI Annotation Pipeline was used to add additional functional annotation to the author's chromosomes and proteins.

The sequencing and annotation of the Cryptococcus gattii strain WM276 genome was performed by Canada’s Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre in collaboration with laboratory of J. Kronstad. The project was funded by Genome Canada and Genome British Columbia, and by grants from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. The sequencing and annotation also involved a collaboration with the Broad Institute and the international Cryptococcus research community to examine the genomes of additional subtypes of C. gattii.

Cryptococcus gattii is a basidiomycete yeast that was originally classified as a variety of Cryptococcus neoformans, the causative agent of cryptococcal meningoencephalitis in immunocompromised people. C. gattii is now recognized as a separate species due to molecular studies, although the species shares major virulence factors such as capsule formation with C. neoformans. C. gattii infects both immunocompromised and immunocompetent individuals, and the pathogen has been the focus of investigation over the past 20 years due to an outbreak of human and animal disease in the Pacific Northwest region of North America.

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