Regulation of mannitol catabolism in Candida albicans: evidence for cyclic AMP-independent glucose effect.

Candida albicans was examined for a glucose effect and showed typical diauxic growth on a mixture of glucose and mannitol, in which mannitol utilization occurred only after exhaustion of glucose. The activity of NAD-linked mannitol dehydrogenase was very low while glucose was present in the medium, but started to increase after consumption of glucose. This increase in activity was fully prevented by trichodermin, an inhibitor of protein synthesis. The uptake of mannitol was detected in the cells grown on mannitol, but not in those grown on glucose with or without mannitol. Mannitol uptake by mannitol-grown cells was not affected by the presence of glucose (0.2 g l-1). These findings indicate that in C. albicans glucose represses the inducible syntheses of mannitol dehydrogenase and a mannitol transport system, and that the involvement of inducer exclusion in this effect is unlikely. Fructose, and to lesser extents galactose, mannose and sucrose, also exhibited similar effects on mannitol metabolism. No correlation was found between the intracellular cyclic AMP levels and the glucose effect.