Fig 8.

Deletion of SLR1 increases brain tropism of C. albicans. (A) Deletion of SLR1 increases fungal burden in the brain. Brain fungal burdens of mice 4 days after intravenous inoculation with the wild-type (AMC81), slr1Δ/Δ (AMC82), or slr1Δ/Δ+SLR1 (AMC104) strain are shown. Each symbol represents the results for an individual mouse, and the horizontal lines indicate the median values. *, P < 0.005 compared to results for the wild-type and reconstituted strains. (B and C) The strains in panel A were tested for invasion of HBMECs and HUVECs after 3 h of incubation (B) and for their capacity to cause HBMEC damage after 16 h of infection (C). Results are the means ± SD for 3 experiments, each performed in triplicate. *, P ≤ 0.02 versus results for the wild-type and reconstituted strains. (D) Level of surface expression of Als3 for the indicated strains as assessed by flow cytometry. Abbreviations: orgs, oganisms; HPF, high-powered field.