Several yeast species catabolize hydroxyderivatives of benzoic acid. However, the nature of carriers responsible for transport of these compounds across the plasma membrane is currently unknown. In this study, we analyzed a family of genes coding for permeases belonging to the major facilitator superfamily (MFS) in the pathogenic yeast Candida parapsilosis. Our results revealed that these transporters are functionally equivalent to bacterial aromatic acid: H+ symporters (AAHS) such as GenK, MhbT and PcaK. We demonstrate that the genes HBT1 and HBT2 encoding putative transporters are highly upregulated in C. parapsilosis cells assimilating hydroxybenzoate substrates and the corresponding proteins reside in the plasma membrane. Phenotypic analyses of knockout mutants and hydroxybenzoate uptake assays provide compelling evidence that the permeases Hbt1 and Hbt2 transport the substrates that are metabolized via the gentisate (3-hydroxybenzoate, gentisate) and 3-oxoadipate pathway (4-hydroxybenzoate, 2,4-dihydroxybenzoate and protocatechuate), respectively. Our data support the hypothesis that the carriers belong to the AAHS family of MFS transporters. Phylogenetic analyses revealed that the orthologs of Hbt permeases are widespread in the subphylum Pezizomycotina, but have a sparse distribution among Saccharomycotina lineages. Moreover, these analyses shed additional light on the evolution of biochemical pathways involved in the catabolic degradation of hydroxyaromatic compounds.

We would like to thank Ladislav Kováč and Jordan Kolarov (Comenius University in Bratislava) for long-term support, Peter Polčic and our lab members for discussions. This work was supported by the Slovak grant agencies VEGA (1/0333/15 and 1/0052/16) and APVV (14-0253 and 15-0022) and the Comenius University grant (UK/429/2015). TG was supported in part by a grant from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness grants, 'Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa 2013-2017' SEV-2012-0208, and BFU2015-67107 cofounded by European Regional Development Fund (ERDF); from the European Union and ERC Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreements FP7-PEOPLE-2013-ITN-606786 and ERC-2012-StG-310325; from the Catalan Research Agency (AGAUR) SGR857, and grant from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No H2020-MSCA-ITN-2014-642095. AG was funded by NKFIH NN 113153, by GINOP 2.3.2-15-2016-00035 and by GINOP 2.3.3-15-2016-00006.