PRESENCE OF MULTIPLE LAMININ-BINDING AND FIBRONECTIN-BINDING PROTEINSIN CELL-WALL EXTRACT OF CANDIDA-ALBICANS - INFLUENCE OF DIALYSIS

Candida albicans has been reported to express only one to three protei ns that bind extracellular matrix proteins, such as laminin and fibrin ogen. In those reports, cell wall extracts were subjected to various p rocessing steps, such as dialysis and lyophilization, prior to Western blot analysis. Here, we demonstrate that dialysis for only 2 h of cel l wall protein extracts results in a substantial loss (40-60%) of prot ein. With overnight dialysis, the loss was increased further. After. h of dialysis, wall extracts contained fewer laminin- and fibronectin-r eactive proteins. In addition, the number of wall proteins in the extr acts detected by a polyclonal anti-human fibronectin receptor antiseru m decreased after dialysis. These results demonstrate that the C. albi cans yeast cell wall contains multiple proteins capable of binding lam inin and fibronectin and many of these proteins are not functionally d etectable following dialysis.