Probing Real-Time Hyphal Growth Of Candida Albicans Using Atomic Force Microscopy: The Effect Of Temperature

Candida albicans is an opportunistic human pathogen that colonizes many areas of the human body, including the gastrointestinal (GI) and genitourinary (GU) tracts of healthy individuals. Alterations in host immunity, the resident microbiota, or environmental factors such as increased pH, nutrient limitation, hypoxia and increased CO2 concentration can lead to C. albicans overgrowth, causing either mucosal diseases (e.g. oral thrush) or life-threatening infections. The ability of C. albicans to grow long filamentous hypha is critical for its pathogenic potential as it allows the fungus to invade the underlying substratum, enhances biofilm formation and enables macrophage evasion. In the present work, we introduce an atomic force microscopy (AFM) based method in order to investigate hyphal growth of C. albicans in real-time under physiologically relevant conditions on silicone elastomer substrates, the common material used for intravascular catheters. In particular, we found hyphal growth rates differ significantly for measurements performed at three different temperatures (35°C, 36°C, 37°C).