Resistance of the Candida albicans filamentous cycle to environmental change.

The filamentous growth cycle in C. albicans was resistant to changes in environment brought about either by the serial transfer of growing cells to fresh nutrients or by sudden changes of temperature after the first h of growth. In further experiments older culture filtrates, exhausted of their ability to induce mycelial growth, were reactivated by addition of fresh nutrients or water. The data provided evidence against the existence of both a mycelial stimulatory and inhibitory compound in the growth medium. It is concluded that although the environment initially dictates what proportion of blastospores are committed to filamentation it has no further effect on the process.