[Composition and certain properties of Candida albicans cells with a low level of resistance to polyene antibiotics].

The lipid and protein composition of Candida albicans, strain R3, with a low resistance to polyene antibiotics does not differ much from that of the parent, susceptible culture. Nevertheless, the rate of potassium release from the cells and the incorporation rate of 14C-amino acids in the cells of C. albicans, strain R3, under the action of amphotericin B are lower as compared to the susceptible culture; therefore, the resistance of C. albicans, strain R3, must be due to a decrease in the degress of its disordered selective permeability. Sterols isolated from the cells in both strains were found to be capable of binding to polyenes at a high rate in solution. However, sterols from the strain R3 with a low resistance to polyenes, when incorporated into a synthetic lipid membrane, increase its permeability slower than sterols from the susceptible strain, which suggests that sterols from the low-resistant strain R3 are possibility involved in the phenotypic manifestation of resistance.