1887

Abstract

Clinically important fungi such as and are known to undergo phenotypic changes after repeated subculture or passages . However, there are no reports describing this phenomenon in species. This study investigated whether in-vivo passages of environmental isolates of in mice changes their phenotype; three environmental isolates and 14 clinical isolates (from deep-seated infections) were used. The shape of the colony and cell type were observed, and the titre of glucuronoxylomannan (GXM) antigen and concentration of (1←3)-β--glucan were measured for each isolate. Changes in these features were also examined after three passages of the environmental isolates in mice. The shape of colonies and cell types were clearly different in environmental and clinical isolates. Furthermore, the clinical isolates released significantly higher levels of GXM antigen than environmental isolates (titre: log 9.4 SD 0.7 log 5.4 SD 1.4). The phenotype of passaged isolates was significantly different from the original environmental isolates with respect to the morphology of colonies and cell type and GXM release (titre: log 10.0 SD 0.7 log 5.4 SD 1.4). These results suggest that the phenotypic changes in occur as a result of in-vivo passages. This process may allow a proportion of the fungal population to escape eradication by the host immune system, as GXM antigen is considered to protect the fungi against phagocytosis by polymorphonuclear leucocytes and monocytes .

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/content/journal/jmm/10.1099/0022-1317-51-5-423
2002-05-01
2024-12-06
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/content/journal/jmm/10.1099/0022-1317-51-5-423
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