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Infection and Immunity, February 2001, p. 779-786, Vol. 69, No. 2
Departments of
Pathology1 and
Microbiology,2 University of
Virginia Health System, Charlottesville, Virginia 22908
Received 29 June 2000/Returned for modification 20 September
2000/Accepted 27 October 2000
Although Candida dubliniensis is a close genetic
relative of Candida albicans, it colonizes and infects
fewer sites. Nearly all instances of candidiasis caused by
C. dubliniensis are restricted to the oral cavity.
As cell surface hydrophobicity (CSH) influences virulence
of C. albicans, CSH properties of C. dubliniensis were investigated and compared to
C. albicans. Growth temperature is one factor which
affects the CSH status of stationary-phase C. albicans. However, C. dubliniensis, similar to
other pathogenic non-albicans species of Candida, was
hydrophobic regardless of growth temperature. For all
Candida species tested in this study (C. albicans, C. dubliniensis, C. glabrata, C. krusei,
C. parapsilosis, and C. tropicalis), CSH
status correlated with coaggregation with the anaerobic oral bacterium
Fusobacterium nucleatum. Previous studies have shown that
CSH status of C. albicans involves multiple surface proteins and surface protein N-glycans. The hydrophobic surface
glycoprotein CAgp38 appears to be expressed by C. albicans constitutively regardless of growth temperature and
medium. C. dubliniensis expresses a 38-kDa protein
that cross-reacts with the anti-CAgp38 monoclonal antibody;
however, expression of the protein was growth medium and growth
temperature dependent. The anti-CAgp38 monoclonal antibody has
been shown to inhibit adhesion of C. albicans to
extracellular matrix proteins and to vascular endothelial cells. Since protein glycosylation influences the CSH
status of C. albicans, we compared the
cell wall mannoprotein content and composition between
C. albicans and C. dubliniensis. Similar bulk compositional levels of hexose, phosphate, and
protein in their N-glycans were determined. However, a component
of the C. albicans N-glycan,
acid-labile phosphooligomannoside, is expressed much
less or negligibly by C. dubliniensis, and when
present, the oligomannosides are predominantly less
than five mannose residues in length. In addition, the acid-labile
phosphooligomannoside profiles varied among the three
strains of C. dubliniensis we tested,
indicating the N-glycan of C. dubliniensis differs
from C. albicans. For C. albicans,
the acid-labile phosphooligomannoside influences virulence and surface fibrillar conformation, which affects
exposure of hydrophobic surface proteins. Given the
combined role in C. albicans of expression of specific
surface hydrophobic proteins in pathogenesis
and of surface protein glycosylation on exposure of the proteins, the
lack of these virulence-associated CSH entities in C. dubliniensis could contribute to its limited ability to cause
disseminated infections.
0019-9567/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/IAI.69.2.779-786.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Comparison of the Hydrophobic Properties of
Candida albicans and Candida
dubliniensis
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Pathology, P.O. Box 800214, University of Virginia Health System,
Charlottesville, VA 22908. Phone: (804) 924-8067. Fax: (804) 924-2190. E-mail: khazen{at}virginia.edu.
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