Comparison of polar lipids from yeast and mycelial forms of Candida albicans and Candida dubliniensis.

The aim of the present study was to compare polar lipids of yeast and mycelial forms of both Candida albicans and Candida dubliniensis. Cultures were harvested from Lee's medium after incubation at 37 degrees C for 48 h. Yeast and mycelial forms were washed, separated from one another, dried and lipids extracted and prepared for fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry analysis in the negative-ion mode. For fatty acids, differences between the yeast and mycelial forms were greater for C. dubliniensis than for C. albicans. For the phospholipid families, phosphatidic acid and phosphatidylethanolamine, differences between yeast and mycelial forms were greater for C. dubliniensis than for C. albicans. For both species, it is concluded that both fatty acid and phospholipid molecular species compositions differ according to whether the cells are in the yeast or mycelial form.