Scanning and transmission electron microscopy of Candida albicans chlamydospores.

A simple, convenient method of growing large quantities of Candida albicans chlamydospores on a cellulose dialysis membrane has been developed. Long, narrow, cylindrical suspensor cells bearing spherical to ovoid chlamydospores were observed. Ultrastructural observations showed the chlamydospore to have a bilayered cell wall made up of an outer electron-transport primary layer and an inner electron-dense secondary layer, a large portion of the total cell volume occupied by a single large vacuole and several smaller vacuoles, and cytoplasmic organelles typical of those observed in the yeast-like cell. There are structural similarities between the region of chlamydospore-suspensor cell connection and septa observed in budding yeast-like cells.