Abstract
The majority of important systemic fungal pathogens are pleomorphic growing as mycelia in the environment and as yeasts in humans.
Candida-albicans is an exception to this and occurs as both yeasts and mycelia in the saprobic and pathogenic states. The ability of this organism to form hyphae is often considered an important virulence attribute, but the evidence is not conclusive and over emphasis on this one factor may detract attention from other properties of this important opportunistic pathogen. The molecular basis of the morphological switch is not understood. The transition from the yeast to mycelial form is induced by changes in the environmental conditions and much of the confusion in the literature stems from a failure to separate those changes in the cell directly associated with the morphological switch from other phenotypic effects.
The most significant difference between growth of hyphae and budding yeasts relates to sites of deposition of newly synthesized cell wall constituents. It is suggested that this should provide a focus for future research into this phenomenon.
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© 1993 Springer Science+Business Media New York
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Kerridge, D. (1993). Fungal Dimorphism: A Sideways Look. In: Vanden Bossche, H., Odds, F.C., Kerridge, D. (eds) Dimorphic Fungi in Biology and Medicine. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-2834-0_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-2834-0_1
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