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Eukaryotic Cell, March 2007, p. 465-472, Vol. 6, No. 3
1535-9778/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/EC.00316-06
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

In Vivo and In Vitro Anaerobic Mating in Candida albicans{triangledown}

Raluca Dumitru,1 Dhammika H. M. L. P. Navarathna,1 Camile P. Semighini,2 Christian G. Elowsky,3 Razvan V. Dumitru,4 Daniel Dignard,5 Malcolm Whiteway,5,6 Audrey L. Atkin,1 and Kenneth W. Nickerson1*

School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska 68588,1 Plant Science Initiative, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska 68588,2 Center for Biotechnology, Beadle Center for Genetic Research, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska 68588,3 Department of Biochemistry, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska 68588,4 Genetics Group, Biotechnology Research Institute, National Research Council of Canada, 6100 Royalmount Ave., Montreal, Quebec H4P 2R2, Canada,5 Department of Biology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec H3A 1B1, Canada6

Received 4 October 2006/ Accepted 17 January 2007

Candida albicans cells of opposite mating types are thought to conjugate during infection in mammalian hosts, but paradoxically, the mating-competent opaque state is not stable at mammalian body temperatures. We found that anaerobic conditions stabilize the opaque state at 37°C, block production of farnesol, and permit in vitro mating at 37°C at efficiencies of up to 84%. Aerobically, farnesol prevents mating because it kills the opaque cells necessary for mating, and as a corollary, farnesol production is turned off in opaque cells. These in vitro observations suggest that naturally anaerobic sites, such as the efficiently colonized gastrointestinal (GI) tract, could serve as niches for C. albicans mating. In a direct test of mating in the mouse GI tract, prototrophic cells were obtained from auxotrophic parent cells, confirming that mating will occur in this organ. These cells were true mating products because they were tetraploid, mononuclear, and prototrophic, and they contained the heterologous hisG marker from one of the parental strains.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68588-0666. Phone: (402) 472-2253. Fax: (402) 472-8722. E-mail: knickerson1{at}unl.edu.

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 26 January 2007.

Eukaryotic Cell, March 2007, p. 465-472, Vol. 6, No. 3
1535-9778/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/EC.00316-06
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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