Analysis of cell wall extracts of Candida albicans by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and Western blot techniques.

Cell walls of intact yeast- and mycelial-phase Candida albicans B311 were extracted with different compounds: dithiothreitol, dithiothreitol with protease, dithiothreitol with lyticase, and dithiothreitol with protease followed by beta-glucuronidase with chitinase. Extracts were analyzed by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and Western blot techniques. Dithiothreitol extracts contained the most satisfactory array of components for study. Analysis of these extracts demonstrated that the outer cell wall layers of Candida blastoconidia and germ tubes contained a complex array of polysaccharides, glycoproteins, and proteins. The proteins contributed to a latticework stabilized by covalent bonds that was important in determining the porosity of the outer cell wall layers. When equivalent weights were analyzed, mycelial-phase extract contained a more varied array of proteins than did yeast-phase extract. Only a portion of proteins in mycelial-phase extract elicited antibody responses in hyperimmunized rabbits or infected humans. A polysaccharide-rich, high-molecular-weight component (migrating at a position that would correspond to proteins having molecular weights of 235,000 to 250,000) and a protein component (molecular weight, 19,000) were readily demonstrable in the mycelial-phase extract but could not be identified in the yeast-phase extract.