Table 1. Methods to obtain .

C. neoformans cells with big capsule

Inducing factor	Composition and protocol
Diluted Sabouraud	Dilute Sabouraud (DifcoTM 238230) 1/10 in H2O, or PBS, or 50 mM HEPES (Gibco, 15630-080) or MOPS (Sigma, Cat. No M-9381) pH 7.3. Incubate at 37oC.
CO2	DME (Cellgro by Mediatech Inc., 10-013-CM) or RPMI (Cellgro by Mediatech Inc.,MT 10-040-CM). Inoculate and incubate in CO2 incubators (5 or 10% CO2). If necessary, add 22 mM NaHCO3 (Fisher Scientific, S233-500). Incubate at 37oC.
LIM	LIM (pH 7.4) as described originally (12), contains per liter (all products from Sigma Aldrich), 5 g of glucose (G5767), 400 mg of K2HPO4 (P3786), 5 g of asparagine (A0884), 250 mg of CaCl2 · 2H2O (C3881), 0.4 mg of thiamine (T4625), 5 mg of CuSO4 (C2857), 2 mg of ZnSO4 · 7H2O (Z4750), 0.01 mg of MnCl2 · 4H2O (M3634), 80 mg of MgSO4 · 7H2O (M5921), 0.46 mg of Na2MoO4 (M1003) and 0.057 mg of boric acid (B0394). Incubate yeast at room temperature.
Serum	10% fetal bovine serum (Gemini BioProducts, Woodland, CA, A37606V) in PBS. Incubate at 37oC.