Skip to main content
PMC home page
Journal of Bacteriology logoLink to Journal of Bacteriology
. 1992 May;174(9):2951–2957. doi: 10.1128/jb.174.9.2951-2957.1992

Genetics of the white-opaque transition in Candida albicans: demonstration of switching recessivity and mapping of switching genes.

W S Chu 1, E H Rikkerink 1, P T Magee 1
PMCID: PMC205949  PMID: 1569024

Abstract

Spheroplast fusion has been used to analyze the genetics of the reversible phenotypic transition, white-opaque, in Candida albicans WO-1. This transition involves changes in cell shape, permeability, and colony morphology. Fusion of switching with nonswitching cells gave nonswitching fusants, suggesting that the white-opaque phenotype is recessive. Chromosome loss induced by heat shock gave segregants of the fusants which were able to undergo the transition, indicating that the repressor function is genetically defined and probably limited to one or two chromosomes. Chromosomes R, 1, 3, 4, and 7 were eliminated as unique sites for the repressor, leaving 2, 5, and 6 as possible locations. When a ura3 (chromosome 3) nonswitching strain was fused with a switching strain, all ura3 segregants induced by heat shock were incapable of the phenotypic transition. Therefore, some or all of the genes (called SWI genes) essential for the transition are located on chromosome 3. UV irradiation-induced recombination did give rise to Ura- switching progeny, showing that the failure to switch was not due to a side effect of the pyrimidine requirement. The failure to isolate normally switching ura3 progeny generated by UV irradiation suggests a close linkage between the two genes.

Full text

PDF
2951

Images in this article

2952Image
on p.2952
2955Image
on p.2955

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Anderson J. M., Soll D. R. Unique phenotype of opaque cells in the white-opaque transition of Candida albicans. J Bacteriol. 1987 Dec;169(12):5579–5588. doi: 10.1128/jb.169.12.5579-5588.1987. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Anderson J., Cundiff L., Schnars B., Gao M. X., Mackenzie I., Soll D. R. Hypha formation in the white-opaque transition of Candida albicans. Infect Immun. 1989 Feb;57(2):458–467. doi: 10.1128/iai.57.2.458-467.1989. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Anderson J., Mihalik R., Soll D. R. Ultrastructure and antigenicity of the unique cell wall pimple of the Candida opaque phenotype. J Bacteriol. 1990 Jan;172(1):224–235. doi: 10.1128/jb.172.1.224-235.1990. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Barton R. C., Gull K. Isolation, characterization, and genetic analysis of monosomic, aneuploid mutants of Candida albicans. Mol Microbiol. 1992 Jan;6(2):171–177. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2958.1992.tb01998.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Bergen M. S., Voss E., Soll D. R. Switching at the cellular level in the white-opaque transition of Candida albicans. J Gen Microbiol. 1990 Oct;136(10):1925–1936. doi: 10.1099/00221287-136-10-1925. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Block D. E., Eitzman P. D., Wangensteen J. D., Srienc F. Slit scanning of Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells: quantification of asymmetric cell division and cell cycle progression in asynchronous culture. Biotechnol Prog. 1990 Nov-Dec;6(6):504–512. doi: 10.1021/bp00006a015. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Goshorn A. K., Scherer S. Genetic analysis of prototrophic natural variants of Candida albicans. Genetics. 1989 Dec;123(4):667–673. doi: 10.1093/genetics/123.4.667. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Hilton C., Markie D., Corner B., Rikkerink E., Poulter R. Heat shock induces chromosome loss in the yeast Candida albicans. Mol Gen Genet. 1985;200(1):162–168. doi: 10.1007/BF00383330. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Ireland R., Sarachek A. Induction and selection of the minute-rough (MR) colonial variant of Candida albicans. Mycopathol Mycol Appl. 1969 May 28;37(4):377–392. doi: 10.1007/BF02129886. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Iwaguchi S., Homma M., Tanaka K. Variation in the electrophoretic karyotype analysed by the assignment of DNA probes in Candida albicans. J Gen Microbiol. 1990 Dec;136(12):2433–2442. doi: 10.1099/00221287-136-12-2433. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Kakar S. N., Partridge R. M., Magee P. T. A genetic analysis of Candida albicans: isolation of a wide variety of auxotrophs and demonstration of linkage and complementation. Genetics. 1983 Jun;104(2):241–255. doi: 10.1093/genetics/104.2.241. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Kelly R., Miller S. M., Kurtz M. B., Kirsch D. R. Directed mutagenesis in Candida albicans: one-step gene disruption to isolate ura3 mutants. Mol Cell Biol. 1987 Jan;7(1):199–208. doi: 10.1128/mcb.7.1.199. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Kurtz M. B., Cortelyou M. W., Miller S. M., Lai M., Kirsch D. R. Development of autonomously replicating plasmids for Candida albicans. Mol Cell Biol. 1987 Jan;7(1):209–217. doi: 10.1128/mcb.7.1.209. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Lasker B. A., Carle G. F., Kobayashi G. S., Medoff G. Comparison of the separation of Candida albicans chromosome-sized DNA by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis techniques. Nucleic Acids Res. 1989 May 25;17(10):3783–3793. doi: 10.1093/nar/17.10.3783. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Magee B. B., D'Souza T. M., Magee P. T. Strain and species identification by restriction fragment length polymorphisms in the ribosomal DNA repeat of Candida species. J Bacteriol. 1987 Apr;169(4):1639–1643. doi: 10.1128/jb.169.4.1639-1643.1987. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Magee B. B., Koltin Y., Gorman J. A., Magee P. T. Assignment of cloned genes to the seven electrophoretically separated Candida albicans chromosomes. Mol Cell Biol. 1988 Nov;8(11):4721–4726. doi: 10.1128/mcb.8.11.4721. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. McEachern M. J., Hicks J. B. Dosage of the smallest chromosome affects both the yeast-hyphal transition and the white-opaque transition of Candida albicans WO-1. J Bacteriol. 1991 Dec;173(23):7436–7442. doi: 10.1128/jb.173.23.7436-7442.1991. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Poulter R. T., Rikkerink E. H. Genetic analysis of red, adenine-requiring mutants of Candida albicans. J Bacteriol. 1983 Dec;156(3):1066–1077. doi: 10.1128/jb.156.3.1066-1077.1983. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Rikkerink E. H., Magee B. B., Magee P. T. Opaque-white phenotype transition: a programmed morphological transition in Candida albicans. J Bacteriol. 1988 Feb;170(2):895–899. doi: 10.1128/jb.170.2.895-899.1988. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Scherer S., Magee P. T. Genetics of Candida albicans. Microbiol Rev. 1990 Sep;54(3):226–241. doi: 10.1128/mr.54.3.226-241.1990. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Slutsky B., Buffo J., Soll D. R. High-frequency switching of colony morphology in Candida albicans. Science. 1985 Nov 8;230(4726):666–669. doi: 10.1126/science.3901258. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Slutsky B., Staebell M., Anderson J., Risen L., Pfaller M., Soll D. R. "White-opaque transition": a second high-frequency switching system in Candida albicans. J Bacteriol. 1987 Jan;169(1):189–197. doi: 10.1128/jb.169.1.189-197.1987. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Soll D. R., Langtimm C. J., McDowell J., Hicks J., Galask R. High-frequency switching in Candida strains isolated from vaginitis patients. J Clin Microbiol. 1987 Sep;25(9):1611–1622. doi: 10.1128/jcm.25.9.1611-1622.1987. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Southern E. M. Detection of specific sequences among DNA fragments separated by gel electrophoresis. J Mol Biol. 1975 Nov 5;98(3):503–517. doi: 10.1016/s0022-2836(75)80083-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Vogel R. A., Sponcler R. S. The study and significance of colony dissociation in Candida albicans. Sabouraudia. 1970 Feb;7(4):273–278. doi: 10.1080/00362177085190511. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Wickes B., Staudinger J., Magee B. B., Kwon-Chung K. J., Magee P. T., Scherer S. Physical and genetic mapping of Candida albicans: several genes previously assigned to chromosome 1 map to chromosome R, the rDNA-containing linkage group. Infect Immun. 1991 Jul;59(7):2480–2484. doi: 10.1128/iai.59.7.2480-2484.1991. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Bacteriology are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

RESOURCES