Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Journal of Bacteriology logoLink to Journal of Bacteriology
. 1991 Dec;173(23):7436–7442. doi: 10.1128/jb.173.23.7436-7442.1991

Dosage of the smallest chromosome affects both the yeast-hyphal transition and the white-opaque transition of Candida albicans WO-1.

M J McEachern 1, J B Hicks 1
PMCID: PMC212507  PMID: 1938940

Abstract

The WO-1 strain of Candida albicans is capable of alternating between two highly distinct yeast cell types termed white and opaque (E. H. A. Rikkerrink, B. B. Magee, and P. T. Magee, J. Bacteriol. 170:895-899, 1988; B. Slutsky, M. Staebell, J. Anderson, L. Risen, M. Pfaller, and D. R. Soll, J. Bacteriol. 169:189-197, 1987). We have isolated WO-1 mutants that show a marked deficiency at being able to switch from the white form to the opaque form under conditions normally favorable for this transition. Pulsed-field electrophoresis demonstrated that one of the initial two spontaneous nonswitching mutants lacked the smallest chromosome that is normally present in WO-1. The availability of a WO-1 derivative whose only functional ADE2 gene is located on this small chromosome made possible, through the induction of chromosome nondisjunction, the isolation of numerous new mutants missing this chromosome as well as mutants containing two copies of the chromosome. Mutants missing the smallest chromosome showed a greatly diminished ability to produce opaque sectors and to produce germ tubes in the presence of human serum. Mutants containing two copies of the small chromosome showed an increased ability to produce germ tubes. These results indicate that this small chromosome carries one or more genes involved in both the white-opaque switch and the yeast-hyphal switch.

Full text

PDF
7436

Images in this article

7437FIG. 1
on p.7437
7438FIG. 2
on p.7438
7438FIG. 3
on p.7438
7439FIG. 4
on p.7439
7439FIG. 5
on p.7439
7440FIG. 6
on p.7440

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. Cannon R. D. Isolation of a mycelial mutant of Candida albicans. J Gen Microbiol. 1986 Aug;132(8):2405–2407. doi: 10.1099/00221287-132-8-2405. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Cannon R. D., Jenkinson H. F., Shepherd M. G. Isolation and nucleotide sequence of an autonomously replicating sequence (ARS) element functional in Candida albicans and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Mol Gen Genet. 1990 Apr;221(2):210–218. doi: 10.1007/BF00261723. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Church G. M., Gilbert W. Genomic sequencing. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1984 Apr;81(7):1991–1995. doi: 10.1073/pnas.81.7.1991. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. 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]
  8. Howard D. H., Zeuthen M. L., Dabrowa N. Phenotypic characteristics of a slow-growing, nongerminating variant of Candida albicans. J Gen Microbiol. 1986 Aug;132(8):2359–2366. doi: 10.1099/00221287-132-8-2359. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Hubbard M. J., Markie D., Poulter R. T. Isolation and morphological characterization of a mycelial mutant of Candida albicans. J Bacteriol. 1986 Jan;165(1):61–65. doi: 10.1128/jb.165.1.61-65.1986. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Ireland R., Sarachek A. A unique minute-rough colonial variant of Candida albicans. Mycopathol Mycol Appl. 1968 Oct 14;35(3):346–360. doi: 10.1007/BF02050750. [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. One-step gene disruption by cotransformation to isolate double auxotrophs in Candida albicans. Mol Gen Genet. 1988 Sep;214(1):24–31. doi: 10.1007/BF00340174. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Kurtz M. B., Cortelyou M. W., Kirsch D. R. Integrative transformation of Candida albicans, using a cloned Candida ADE2 gene. Mol Cell Biol. 1986 Jan;6(1):142–149. doi: 10.1128/mcb.6.1.142-149.1986. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. 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.7.1.209-217.1987. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. 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]
  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.8.11.4721-4726.1988. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Morrow B., Anderson J., Wilson J., Soll D. R. Bidirectional stimulation of the white-opaque transition of Candida albicans by ultraviolet irradiation. J Gen Microbiol. 1989 May;135(5):1201–1208. doi: 10.1099/00221287-135-5-1201. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Oyen T. B., Saelid G., Skuladottir G. V. Study of a haploid yeast strain with an unusually high rDNA content. III. Unequal meiotic segregation of the gamma-DNA fraction. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1978 Aug 23;520(1):88–102. doi: 10.1016/0005-2787(78)90010-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Pomés R., Gil C., Nombela C. Genetic analysis of Candida albicans morphological mutants. J Gen Microbiol. 1985 Aug;131(8):2107–2113. doi: 10.1099/00221287-131-8-2107. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. 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]
  21. Poulter R., Hanrahan V., Jeffery K., Markie D., Shepherd M. G., Sullivan P. A. Recombination analysis of naturally diploid Candida albicans. J Bacteriol. 1982 Dec;152(3):969–975. doi: 10.1128/jb.152.3.969-975.1982. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. 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]
  23. Rustchenko-Bulgac E. P., Sherman F., Hicks J. B. Chromosomal rearrangements associated with morphological mutants provide a means for genetic variation of Candida albicans. J Bacteriol. 1990 Mar;172(3):1276–1283. doi: 10.1128/jb.172.3.1276-1283.1990. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. SARACHEK A. PROMOTION OF RETARDATION OF THE GROWTH OF ADENINE AUXOTROPHS OF CANDIDA ALBICANS BY PURINES, PYRIMIDINES AND NUCLEOSIDES. Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek. 1964;30:289–302. doi: 10.1007/BF02046735. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Sadhu C., McEachern M. J., Rustchenko-Bulgac E. P., Schmid J., Soll D. R., Hicks J. B. Telomeric and dispersed repeat sequences in Candida yeasts and their use in strain identification. J Bacteriol. 1991 Jan;173(2):842–850. doi: 10.1128/jb.173.2.842-850.1991. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. 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]
  27. 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]
  28. 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]
  29. Suzuki T., Kobayashi I., Kanbe T., Tanaka K. High frequency variation of colony morphology and chromosome reorganization in the pathogenic yeast Candida albicans. J Gen Microbiol. 1989 Feb;135(Pt 2):425–434. doi: 10.1099/00221287-135-2-425. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  30. 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]
  31. Whelan W. L., Soll D. R. Mitotic recombination in Candida albicans: recessive lethal alleles linked to a gene required for methionine biosynthesis. Mol Gen Genet. 1982;187(3):477–485. doi: 10.1007/BF00332632. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

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

RESOURCES