The total lipid content of Candida albicans (serotype A; NCPF 3153) exponential-phase mycelial cultures grown in tissue-culture medium 199 (containing 10%, v/v, foetal calf serum) was 29·8 ± 8 mg (g dry weight)-1 (mean ± sd). The weight ratios of phospholipid to neutral lipid and phospholipid to non-esterified sterol were 2·6 ± 0·4 and 24·9 ± 0·5, respectively. The major phospholipid was phosphatidylcholine with smaller amounts of phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylinositol, phosphatidylserine, phosphatidylglycerol and diphosphatidylglycerol; the most abundant fatty acids were palmitic, palmitoleic, oleic and linoleic acids. The major neutral lipids comprised esterified sterol, triacylglycerol and non-esterified fatty acid with a smaller amount of non-esterified sterol. The fatty acid compositions of the three fatty-acid-containing neutral lipids were distinct from each other and the phospholipids. Comparison with previous data on yeast cultures of C. albicans A grown in glucose broth shows that mycelial cultures have a larger lipid content, lower phospholipid to neutral lipid ratio and higher phospholipid to non-esterified sterol ratio. We now show that mycelial cultures were more permeable to a [14C]triazole antifungal antibiotic compared with exponentially growing yeast cultures of several azole-sensitive strains. Taken together these data are consistent with there being a relationship between the phospholipid/non-esterified sterol ratio of a culture and its ability to accumulate a triazole.
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