Aneuploidy and drug resistance in pathogenic fungi

[...]reports of aneuploidy in pathogenic fungi linked to the emergence of drug resistance have been limited to FLC therapy, and studies of its mechanism have exclusively been carried out in Candida and Cryptococcus. In C. neoformans, duplication of the chromosome that houses factors responsible for the maintenance of ER integrity also provides a fitness advantage under azole stress. Since sterol is essential for the proliferation of fungal cells and is synthesized mainly in the ER before being delivered to the plasma membrane, it is understandable how C. neoformans benefits through amplification of ER-associated genes under azole stress.