Microbial lipases as virulence factors

Up to now, lipases of microbial origin are known to be very useful in a palette of industrial applications. But it becomes more and more obvious that extracellular lipases also play a role during microbial infections. This review will focus on the virulent traits of these secreted enzymes from bacteria and fungi. Special emphasis will be laid on Candida albicans research. This human pathogenic fungus possesses a lipase gene family, which is expressed and differentially regulated under a variety of in vitro conditions. First results show that this isoenzyme family is also expressed during an experimental infection.

In addition, putative functions of extracellular lipases of pathogenic micro-organisms will be discussed.