Molecular Biological Approach to Morphological Differentiation in Candida albicans

For germ tube formation in mid-exponential phase Candida albicans, two media were formulated: a glucose medium and an N-acetylglucosamine medium. We found that for germ tube formation to occur in the glucose medium, it was necessary to starve the mid-exponential phase cells in distilled water before...

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Published inNihon Ishinkin Gakkai zasshi Vol. 38; no. 4; pp. 285 - 290
Main Authors Cho, Tamaki, Hamatake, Hisako, Hirota, Takeshi, Kaminishi, Hidenori, Hagihara, Yoshisato, Watanabe, Kenji
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published The Japanese Society for Medical Mycology 1997
Subjects
Candida albicans
differentiation
dimorphism
gene expression
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Summary:For germ tube formation in mid-exponential phase Candida albicans, two media were formulated: a glucose medium and an N-acetylglucosamine medium. We found that for germ tube formation to occur in the glucose medium, it was necessary to starve the mid-exponential phase cells in distilled water before transferring them to the medium. However, for the N-acetylglucosamine medium no starvation was necessary. These circumstances raise two questions: (1) Why is starvation needed to cause germ tube formation in the glucose medium? (2) Why is no starvation needed to do so in the N-acetylglucosamine medium? We have developed a hypothesis: when the organism was starved, yeast growth genes would be regulated. Moreover, when the N-acetylglucosamine medium was used, the same situation would transiently appear in the organism. We attempted to isolate common mRNAs from mid-exponential phase C. albicans which was starved or cultured in N-acetylglucosamine medium for a short time using a modified differential display of RT-PCR. Further experiments must be conducted to confirm this hypothesis.
ISSN:0916-4804
1882-0476
DOI:10.3314/jjmm.38.285