Candida albicans

Figure 1. Fluorescent protein fusions in Candida albicans. Useful fluorescent markers for tracking subcellular structures in C. albicans include: DAPI (DNA); Nop1-GFP (green fluorescent protein, localizing to the nucleolus); Hhf1-GFP (chromatin); Tub2-GFP (microtubules, green); and Tub4-mCherry fluorescent protein (spindle pole bodies, red). Micrographs courtesy of Shelly Applen and Benjamin Harrison. What is Candida albicans? Candida albicans is the best studied and most prevalent of the human fungal pathogens. Candida species are fungi that grow as yeasts and that are ‘imperfect’, meaning they apparently lack a complete sexual cycle; yet C. albicans and several related species clearly have the potential to engage in ‘parasex’ (described below). C. albicans, thought to be an obligate diploid, can form true filamentous hyphae in addition to the budding yeast and pseudohyphal (elongated yeast) cells seen in other Candida species and in the model yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.