Four pathogenic Candida species differ in salt tolerance.

The virulence of Candida species depends on many environmental conditions, including extracellular pH and concentration of alkali metal cations. Tests of the tolerance/sensitivity of four pathogenic Candida species (C. albicans, C. dubliniensis, C. glabrata, and C. parapsilosis) to alkali metal cations under various growth conditions revealed significant differences among these species. Though all of them can be classified as rather osmotolerant yeast species, they exhibit different levels of tolerance to different salts. C. parapsilosis and C. albicans are the most salt-tolerant in general; C. dubliniensis is the least tolerant on rich YPD media and C. glabrata on acidic (pH 3.5) minimal YNB medium. C. dubliniensis is relatively salt-sensitive in spite of its ability to maintain as high intracellular K(+)/Na(+) ratio as its highly salt-tolerant relative C. albicans. On the other hand, C. parapsilosis can grow in the presence of very high external NaCl concentrations in spite of its high intracellular Na(+) concentrations (and thus lower K(+)/Na(+) ratio) and thus resembles salt-tolerant (halophilic) Debaryomyces hansenii.