Cell biology of mating in Candida albicans.

ABSTRACT: It was recently demonstrated that strains homozygous for either of the mating type-like loci MTLa and MTLalpha of Candida albicans undergo white-opaque switching and that expression of the opaque-phase phenotype greatly enhances mating between strains. Exploiting the latter property to obtain high-frequency mating, we have characterized the cell biology of the mating process of C. albicans. Employing continuous videomicroscopy, computer-assisted three-dimensional reconstruction of living cells, and fluorescence microscopy, we have monitored the mating-associated processes of conjugation, tube formation, fusion, budding, septum formation, and daughter cell development and the spatial and temporal dynamics of nuclear migration and division. From these observations, a model for the stages in

SUBMITTER: Lockhart SR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC141171 | biostudies-literature | 2003 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature