Previous Article | Next Article ![]()
Journal of Clinical Microbiology, May 1999, p. 1464-1468, Vol. 37, No. 5
Department of Oral
Medicine1 and Department of Oral and
Craniofacial Biological Sciences,
Received 14 December 1998/Returned for modification 3 February
1999/Accepted 17 February 1999
The binding of microorganisms to each other and oral surfaces
contributes to the progression of microbial infections in the oral
cavity. Candida dubliniensis, a newly characterized
species, has been identified in human immunodeficiency
virus-seropositive patients and other immunocompromised individuals.
C. dubliniensis phenotypically resembles Candida
albicans in many respects yet can be identified and
differentiated as a unique Candida species by phenotypic
and genetic profiles. The purpose of this study was to determine oral
coaggregation (CoAg) partners of C. dubliniensis and
to compare these findings with CoAg of C. albicans
under the same environmental conditions. Fifteen isolates of
C. dubliniensis and 40 isolates of C. albicans were tested for their ability to coaggregate with
strains of Fusobacterium nucleatum,
Peptostreptococcus micros, Peptostreptococcus
magnus, Peptostreptococcus anaerobius, Porphyromonas gingivalis, and Prevotella
intermedia. When C. dubliniensis and
C. albicans strains were grown at 37°C on Sabouraud
dextrose agar, only C. dubliniensis strains
coaggregated with F. nucleatum ATCC 49256 and no
C. albicans strains showed CoAg. However, when the
C. dubliniensis and C. albicans
strains were grown at 25 or 45°C, both C. dubliniensis and C. albicans strains
demonstrated CoAg with F. nucleatum. Heating the
C. albicans strains (grown at 37°C) at 85°C for 30 min or treating them with dithiothreitol allowed the C. albicans strains grown at 37°C to coaggregate with F. nucleatum. CoAg at all growth temperatures was
inhibited by mannose and
0095-1137/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Coaggregation of Candida dubliniensis
with Fusobacterium nucleatum
-methyl mannoside but not by EDTA or
arginine. The CoAg reaction between F. nucleatum and
the Candida species involved a heat-labile component on
F. nucleatum and a mannan-containing heat-stable
receptor on the Candida species. The CoAg reactions between
F. nucleatum and the Candida species may
be important in the colonization of the yeast in the oral cavity, and
the CoAg of C. dubliniensis by F. nucleatum when grown at 37°C provides a rapid, specific, and
inexpensive means to differentiate C. dubliniensis from C. albicans isolates in the clinical laboratory.
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Oral Medicine, Dental School, University of Maryland, Baltimore, 666 W. Baltimore St., Baltimore, MD 21201. Phone: (410) 708-7628. Fax: (410)
706-0519. E-mail: mrizk{at}umaryland.edu.
Journal of Clinical Microbiology, May 1999, p. 1464-1468, Vol. 37, No. 5
0095-1137/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
This article has been cited by other articles:
| Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. | Clin. Microbiol. Rev. |
|---|---|
| Clin. Vaccine Immunol. | ALL ASM JOURNALS |
|---|