Environmental induction of white-opaque switching in Candida albicans.

ABSTRACT: Candida albicans strains that are homozygous at the mating type locus (MTLa or MTLalpha) can spontaneously switch at a low frequency from the normal yeast cell morphology (white) to an elongated cell type (opaque), which is the mating-competent form of the fungus. The ability to switch reversibly between these two cell types also contributes to the pathogenicity of C. albicans, as white and opaque cells are differently adapted to specific host niches. We found that in strain WO-1, a strain in which genomic alterations have occurred, but not in other tested strains, switching from the white to the opaque phase can also be induced by environmental conditions. Transient incubation of white cells under anaerobic conditions programmed the cells to switch en masse to the opaque phase. The anaero

SUBMITTER: Ramirez-Zavala B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2405950 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature