Abstract
Underestimating fungal infections led to a gap in the development of antifungal medication. However, rising rates of morbidity and mortality with fungal infection have revealed an alarming rise in antifungal resistance also. Due to the eukaryotic properties of fungi and the close evolutionary similarity between fungal cells and human hosts, therapeutic targeting of Candida infections is troublesome, along with the development of resistance. The discovery of new antifungals is so far behind schedule that the antifungal pipeline is nearly empty. Previously, we have reported the activity and susceptibility of Sodium lignosulfonate (LIG) against C. albicans. In this work, we have established the mechanistic actions of LIG’s activity. We performed flow cytometric analysis for membrane integrity, ergosterol binding assay, crystal violet assay, and membrane leakage assay to analyze quantitatively that the C. albicans membrane is being disrupted in response to LIG. Electron microscopic analysis with SEM and TEM confirmed changes in Candida cellular morphology and membrane perturbation respectively. These findings indicated that LIG causes cell membrane damage in C. albicans. This knowledge about LIG’s mechanism of action against C. albicans could be used to explore it further as a lead antifungal molecule to develop it as a potent candidate for antifungal therapeutics in the future.
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The authors are thankful to the Department of Biotechnology, National Institute of Technology Raipur (CG), India for providing facilities, space, and resources for this work.
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A.J performed experiment and wrote the draft manuscript and A.K. conceptualize, supervised, and finalized the draft manuscript. All authors reviewed the manuscript.
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Jha, A., Kumar, A. Sodium lignosulfonate causes cell membrane perturbation in the human fungal pathogen Candida albicans. World J Microbiol Biotechnol 39, 164 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-023-03609-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-023-03609-0