A genetic analysis of Candida albicans: isolation of a wide variety of auxotrophs and demonstration of linkage and complementation.

Naturally occurring strains of Candida albicans appear to be diploid and heterozygous for a limited number of nutritional markers. Additional heterozygosity can be induced by treatment with mutagens; nitrous acid alone or in combination with UV is a potent mutagen in terms of both efficacy and efficiency in the production of a wide variety of mutations. Spheroplast fusion followed by regeneration on selective media revealed complementation among four histidine-requiring mutants analyzed. Some of the fusion products appeared to be stable prototrophs, whereas in others several kinds of segregants resulted, apparently due to chromosomal or nuclear elimination. The results are suggestive of both heterokaryosis as well as nuclear fusion. The procedures described can be successfully used for generating new mutants and studying allelism. Three sets of linkage relationships have been derived from evidence provided by concomitant appearance or cosegragation of several auxotrophic markers.