Ultraviolet microscopy of purines and amino acids in the vacuole of Candida albicans

Abstract

Ultraviolet (UV) microscopy was used to study the capacity of yeast (ATCC 10231 and 10261) and filamentous (ATCC 10259) strains of Candida albicans to accumulate UV-absorbing materials from a medium supplemented with purines, pyrimidines, amino acids, or related compounds as the main nitrogen source. All strains accumulated UV-absorbing compounds when adenine, adenosine, isoguanine, xanthine, or uric acid was supplied as a nitrogen source, but they did not accumulate UV-absorbing compounds when pyrimidines were supplied. The filamentous strain accumulated UV-absorbing material from medium supplemented with hypoxanthine, but the yeast strains did not. In contrast, the yeast strains accumulated more UV-absorbing material than did the filamentous strain when guanine was the nitrogen source. Yeast strain 10231 not only accumulated UV-absorbing material from tyrosine-supplemented medium, but it became filamentous in form as well. Yeast strain 10261 and filamentous strain 10259 did not accumulate detectable amounts of UV-absorbing material, nor was their morphology noticeably affected by the supplement. The two yeast strains accumulated more lipid than the filamentous strain when they were incubated in a nitrogen-deficient medium.