The yeast cell-wall salvage pathway

The integrity of the cell wall depends on the synthesis and correct assembly of its individual components. Several environmental factors, such as temperature up-shift, treatments with mating factors or with specific cell wall-perturbing drugs, or genetic factors, such as inactivation of cell wall-related genes (for example FKS1 or GAS1) can impair construction of the cell wall. As the cell wall is essential for preserving the osmotic integrity of the cell, several responses are triggered in response to cell-wall damage. This review focuses on the activation of salvage pathways that guarantee cell survival through remodeling of the extracellular matrix. These researches have useful implication for the study of similar pathways in human fungal pathogens, and for the evaluation of the efficacy of new antifungal drugs.