Comparative Study of Lipid Composition of Candida albicans in the Yeast and Mycelial Forms

Candida albicans was grown in the yeast and mycelial forms in the same conditions except keeping the temperature of the medium at 25°C for the yeast form and 37°C for the mycelial form, respectively, and the lipid composition of the organism in the two forms was studied comparatively. The contents of fatty acids, phospholipids, sterols (except zymosterol) and squalene of the mycelial form of the fungus per DNA were found to be significantly higher than those in the yeast form. Furthermore, in the yeast form the relative composition of the fatty acids which are considered to be the further metabolites of the nascent palmitic acid, e.g. C18:0, C18:1, C18:2, and C18:3, were higher than those in the mycelial form, whereas that of fatty acids such as C16:0 and C16:1 were higher in the mycelial form. These results seem to suggest an immaturity in lipid composition of the mycelial form compared to that in the yeast form. Essentially a similar result was obtained with [2-^14C]acetate added in culture media. Such an immaturity might be due to the increased biosynthesis of lipids in the mycelial form of C. albicans.