Open AccessThermotolerance and trehalose accumulation induced by heat shock in yeast cells of Candida albicans
Author(s) -
Argüelles Juan Carlos
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
fems microbiology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.899
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1574-6968
pISSN - 0378-1097
DOI - 10.1111/j.1574-6968.1997.tb10172.x
Subject(s) - candida albicans , yeast , microbiology and biotechnology , trehalose , shock (circulatory) , heat shock , biology , bacteria , chemistry , heat shock protein , biochemistry , genetics , medicine , gene
Candida albicans yeast cells growing exponentially on glucose are extremely sensitive to severe heat shock treatments (52.5°C for 5 min). When these cultures were subjected to a mild temperature preincubation (42°C), they became thermotolerant and displayed higher resistance to further heat stress. The intracellular content of trehalose was very low in exponential cells, but underwent a marked increase upon non‐lethal heat exposure. The accumulation of trehalose is likely due to heat‐induced activation of the trehalose‐6‐phosphate synthase complex, whereas the external trehalase remained practically unmodified. After a temperature reversion shift (from 42°C to 28°C), the pool of trehalose was rapidly mobilized without any concomitant change in trehalase activity. These results support an important role of trehalose in the mechanism of acquired thermotolerance in C. albicans and seem to exclude the external trehalase as a key enzyme in this process.