Effects of growth temperatures on plating efficiencies and stabilities of heterokaryons of Candida albicans.

Heterokaryons (hets) of Candida albicans constructed by fusing protoplasts of complementing auxotrophs produce heterogeneous clones on minimal medium consisting of (i) a minority of slow-growing hets, (ii) a preponderance of non-growing, parental-type auxotrophic monokaryons, and (iii) some prototrophic monokaryons bearing hybrid nuclei. Hets grown at a given temperature within the range 25 degrees C to 41 degrees C replate with higher efficiencies at any lower temperature and exhibit progressively declining plating efficiencies as plate temperatures increase beyond that at which they were initially grown. Neither auxotrophic nor prototrophic monokaryons show such responses. Growth of colonies produced by hets, wild-type strains or prototrophic hybrid monokaryons is stimulated by temperatures in the order, 37 degrees C greater than 30 degrees C greater than 41 degrees C greater than 25 degrees C. However, the proportion of hets to auxotrophic monokaryons within individual het clones increases directly from 25 degrees C to 41 degrees C. Though this pattern obtains whether colonies are compared at equivalent sizes or ages, het frequencies decline as colonies age at all temperatures. Appearance of hybrid monokaryons within het clones is unaffected by growth temperature. The relationships of temperatures to plating efficiencies and stabilities of hets are independent of the natures of their complementing auxotrophies or the wild-type backgrounds of their nuclear components and are, therefore, functions of heterokaryosis per se. Modifications of these relationships by selective metabolic antagonists or by growth of hets on different pre- and post-plating carbon sources indicate that they reflect temperature-dependent properties of mitochondria which are peculiar to hets.