Deletion of ALS5, ALS6 or ALS7 increases adhesion of Candida albicans to human vascular endothelial and buccal epithelial cells.

Candida albicans yeast forms deleted for ALS5, ALS6 or ALS7 are more adherent than a relevant control strain to human vascular endothelial cell monolayers and buccal epithelial cells. In the buccal and vaginal reconstituted human epithelium (RHE) disease models, however, mutant and control strains caused a similar degree of tissue destruction. Deletion of ALS5 or ALS6 significantly slowed growth of the mutant strain; this phenotype was not affected by addition of excess uridine to the culture medium. These studies demonstrate similar phenotypic characteristics for the als5Delta/als5Delta, als6Delta/als6Delta and als7Delta/als7Delta strains that are not observed in any of the other C. albicans alsDelta/alsDelta isolates.