Background and Purpose :Candidiasis is a widespread fungal infection caused by different Candida species. Rapid identification of Candida species in clinical laboratory is becoming increasingly important since the identification and discrimination of ethological agents for early treatment. We aimed at molecular identification of commonly Candida species isolated from clinical samples by using b...

Filamentous growth is a hallmark of C. albicans pathogenicity compared to less-virulent ascomycetes. A multitude of transcription factors regulate filamentous growth in response to specific environmental cues. Our work, however, suggests the evolutionary history of C. albicans that resulted in its filamentous growth plasticity may be tied to a change in the general transcription machinery rathe...

Candida albicans is a normal part of the human microflora, but it is also an opportunistic fungal pathogen that causes both mucosal infections and life-threatening systemic infections. Until recently, C. albicans was thought to be asexual, existing only as an obligate diploid. However, a mating locus was identified that was homologous to those in sexually reproducing fungi, and mating of C. alb...

The fungus, Candida albicans, and the bacterium, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, are opportunistic human pathogens that have been coisolated from diverse body sites. Pseudomonas aeruginosa suppresses C. albicans proliferation in vitro and potentially in vivo but it is the C. albicans hyphae that are killed while yeast cells are not. We show that hyphal killing involves both contact-mediated and soluble...

Biosurfactants are amphipathic molecules with both hydrophilic and hydrophobic moieties and are surface active agent that are produced extracellularly or as a part of cell membrane by bacteria, yeast and fungi. In the present study, six different microorganisms were isolated from oil contaminated soils. Screening of biosurfactant producing potential strain was done using oil spreading method, o...

Candida albicans persisters constitute a small subpopulation of biofilm cells and play a major role in recalcitrant chronic candidiasis; however, the mechanism underlying persister formation remains unclear. Persisters are often described as dormant, multidrug-tolerant, nongrowing cells. Persister cells are difficult to isolate and study not only due to their low levels in C. albicans biofilms ...

Chronic hyperplastic candidiasis (CHC) lesions will progress to dysplasia with some of these developing squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). It is well known that diabetic patients are predisposed to candidiasis. Previously, we found that alloxan-induced diabetic rats spontaneously have mucosal hyperplasia with C. albicans infection and that those lesions progress to SCC. Here, we developed a rat mod...

Protein arginine methylation plays a key role in numerous eukaryotic processes, such as protein transport and signal transduction. In Candida albicans, two candidate protein arginine methyltransferases (PRMTs) have been identified from the genome sequencing project. Based on sequence comparison, C. albicans candidate PRMTs display similarity to Saccharomyces cerevisiae Hmt1 and Rmt2. Here we de...

BACKGROUND Vulvovaginal candidiasis is caused by Candida albicans. The vaginal epithelium, as the first site of the initial stage of infection by pathogens, plays an important role in resisting genital tract infections. Moreover, lactobacilli are predominant members of the vaginal microbiota that help to maintain a normal vaginal microenvironment. Therefore, Lactobacillus crispatus was explored...