Fig 4. Filamentation is negatively associated with colonization of the gut of germ free mice.

(A) The deletion mutants zfu2, zcf8 and try4 display wrinkling—a proxy for filamentation—when grown under conditions that normally do not induce filamentation in C. albicans. The wild-type reference strain and the three deletion mutants were spotted on YPD agar and incubated at 30°C for 48h. (B) Fungal load in the feces of germ-free animals gavaged with a 1:1 mixture of wild-type reference strain and a mutant ectopically expressing the filament-inducing regulator UME6. Five animals per group were evaluated. Each circle represents the colony-forming units (CFU) per gram of stool from one mouse. Dashes represent the mean. Statistical analyses by the Mann-Whitney test. P values are indicated on top of each comparison.