Candida albicans White-Opaque Switching Influences Virulence but Not Mating during Oropharyngeal Candidiasis.

ABSTRACT: The capacity of Candida albicans to switch reversibly between the white phenotype and the opaque phenotype is required for the fungus to mate. It also influences virulence during hematogenously disseminated candidiasis. We investigated the roles of the mating type loci (MTL) and white-opaque switching in the capacity of C. albicans to mate in the oropharynx and cause oropharyngeal candidiasis (OPC). When immunosuppressed mice were orally infected with mating-competent opaque a/a and α/α cells either alone or mixed with white cells, no detectable mating occurred, indicating that the mating frequency was less than 1.6 × 10-6 Opaque cells were also highly attenuated in virulence; they either were cleared from the oropharynx or switched to the white phenotype during OPC. Although there were st

SUBMITTER: Solis NV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5964503 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature