On the Question of the Nature of Hemolytic Activity of Candida albicans

Candida albicans is one of the most common pathogens of opportunistic infections and has a lot of hydrolytic enzymes important for pathogenesis of candidiasis, such as protease, phospholipase, and others. The genome of C. albicans contains seven phospholipase genes C ( pla , plb1 plb2 , plc1 , plc2 , plc3 , and pld1 ), only four of which are well studied and well described ( plb1 plb2 , plc , and pld1 ); the role of others in the pathogenesis of candidiasis remains unclear. In this paper, the effect of iron on the hemolytic activity (HA) and gene expression of phospholipase C— plc , plb1 , and plb2 by C. albicans in a nutrient broth and serum is studied. It is established that the addition of iron in the broth and serum induces a hemolytic activity and gene expression plb1 and plb2 of phospholipase C by C. albicans . In the serum, the highest dependence on the iron concentration ([Fe 2+ ]) was observed for the expression of the plb2 gene and plc phospholipase C. Comparative characteristics of the presented results showed that in the serum, the expression level of the phospholipase C genes is lower than in the Saburo broth. The highest iron dependence is observed for the plb2 gene. It can be demonstrated according to the research that the nature of the hemolytic activity of C. albicans is due to the expression of the phospholipase gene plb2 ; the value of other genes in the expression of HA substantially depends on the medium of cultivation. Thus, any changes of iron homeostasis in the direction of an overloaded iron induce the activity of phospholipase C PLB2 and PLС by Candida spp. making iron from hemoglobin available for uptake, which is important for the pathogenesis of candidiasis.