Figure 3.

The effect of the Candida albicans‐specific aptamers on C. albicans biofilm formation. (a) C. albicans viability was determined after 24 hr of growth using the MTT assay in the presence of the RNAs from the original library, round 11, nonbinding RNAs, Ca‐apt‐1, and Ca‐apt‐12 at a concentration of 1 ng/μl. The plots show the mean values of the relative viability compared to the untreated control, and an error bar represents the standard error of the mean. An asterisk indicates a statistically significant difference compared with the untreated control using an unpaired t test (p < 0.05). (b) Representative light microscopy images of C. albicans in the untreated control (top) or the cells treated with either the original library RNA (middle) or Ca‐apt‐1 (bottom) are shown. The images from the light microscope (400× magnification) were edited for brightness and contrast, and the bars represent 20 μm for all images. Decreased hyphal formation is observed in the presence of the aptamer