Isolation and morphological characterization of a mycelial mutant of Candida albicans

Abstract

In this paper we describe the isolation of a novel strain of Candida albicans which is a mycelium at ambient temperatures. Mutagenesis of C. albicans ATCC 10261 with N-methyl-N-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine followed by plating on solid media at 28°C yielded colony morphology variants which were characterized by a raised, rough-surfaced colony of irregular outline in marked contrast to the flat, shiny circular colonies of the parental 10261 strain. One mutant colony, hOG301, was studied in detail. Strain hOG301 was stable and exhibited mycelial morphology over a wide temperature range (5 to 40° C) in several media. The hyphae comprising hOG301 mycelium were examined by light microscopy, scanning e..