Profiling the host defense responses against Candida auris in a reliable Drosophila melanogaster infection model

The “superbug” Candida auris has been ranked as a priority fungal pathogen and is becoming a serious threat to public health. However, the underlying mechanisms of real-world pathogen–host interactions remain elusive, in part due to the lack of powerful immunocompetent animal models. Here, we report that selected wild-type strains of Drosophila melanogaster can be developed as a promising infection model to recapitulate C. auris systemic infection. The systemic and organ-specific responses to C. auris infection in vivo were evaluated, as well as the corresponding transcriptional profiling. Our findings confirmed that Toll and JAK-STAT signaling pathways mediate antifungal responses in the Drosophila model following C. auris infection. Moreover, we identified certain conserved novel factors required for host–C. auris interactions, highlighting the fly model's potential to reveal subtle immune mechanisms not readily observed in mammalian systems. Taken together, our work demonstrates that wild-type Drosophila offers a robust immunocompetent animal model for further in-depth investigation of dynamic C. auris–host interactions in vivo.