School of Chemical Engineering, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
Institute of Microbiology and Infection, School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
Methods Mol Biol. 2023;2667:1-13. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-3199-7_1.
Fungi can adapt to a wide range of environmental stresses in the wild and host milieu by employing their plastic genome and great diversity in morphology. Among different adaptive strategies, mechanical stimuli, such as changes in osmotic pressure, surface remodeling, hyphal formation, and cell divisions, could guide the physical cues into physiological responses through a complex signaling network. While fungal pathogens require a pressure-driven force to expand and penetrate host tissues, quantitatively studying the biophysical properties at the host-fungal interface is critical to understand the development of fungal diseases. Microscopy-based techniques have enabled researchers to monitor the dynamic mechanics on fungal cell surface in responses to the host stress and antifungal drugs. Here, we describe a label-free, high-resolution method based on atomic force microscopy, with a step-by-step protocol to measure the physical properties in human fungal pathogen Candida albicans.
真菌可以通过其可塑基因组和形态多样性来适应野外和宿主环境中的各种环境压力。在不同的适应策略中，机械刺激，如渗透压变化、表面重塑、菌丝形成和细胞分裂等，可以通过复杂的信号网络将物理线索引导到生理反应中。虽然真菌病原体需要压力驱动的力来扩张和穿透宿主组织，但定量研究宿主-真菌界面的生物物理特性对于理解真菌病的发展至关重要。基于显微镜的技术使研究人员能够监测真菌细胞表面对宿主应激和抗真菌药物的动态力学响应。在这里，我们描述了一种基于原子力显微镜的无标记、高分辨率方法，并提供了一个逐步协议来测量人类真菌病原体白色念珠菌的物理特性。
