Oh K B, Miyazawa H, Naito T, Matsuoka H
Natural Products Research Institute, Seoul National University, 28, Yungun, Chongro, Seoul 110-460,
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2001 Apr 10;98(8):4664-8. doi: 10.1073/pnas.071404698. Epub 2001 Mar 27.
The yeast Candida albicans has a distinguishing feature, dimorphism, which is the ability to switch between two morphological forms: a budding yeast form and a multicellular invasive filamentous form. This ability has been postulated to contribute to the virulence of this organism. Studies on the morphological transition from a filamentous to a budding yeast form in C. albicans have shown that this organism excretes an autoregulatory substance into the culture medium. This substance was extracted and purified by normal-phase and reversed-phase HPLC. The autoregulatory substance was structurally identified as 3,7,11-trimethyl-2,6,10-dodecatrienoate (farnesoic acid) by NMR and mass spectrometry. Growth experiments suggest that this substance does not inhibit yeast cell growth but inhibits filamentous growth. These findings have implications for developmental signaling by the fungus and might have medicinal value in the development of antifungal therapies.
白色念珠菌具有一个显著特征，即二态性，也就是能够在两种形态之间转换：出芽酵母形态和多细胞侵袭性丝状形态。据推测，这种能力有助于该生物体的毒力。对白色念珠菌从丝状形态向出芽酵母形态的形态转变的研究表明，该生物体向培养基中分泌一种自调节物质。这种物质通过正相和反相高效液相色谱法进行提取和纯化。通过核磁共振和质谱分析，将该自调节物质的结构鉴定为3,7,11-三甲基-2,6,10-十二碳三烯酸酯（法尼酸）。生长实验表明，这种物质并不抑制酵母细胞生长，但会抑制丝状生长。这些发现对真菌的发育信号传导具有启示意义，并且可能在抗真菌治疗的开发中具有药用价值。
