COMMON AND FORM-SPECIFIC CELL-WALL ANTIGENS OF CANDIDA-ALBICANS AS RELEASED BY CHEMICAL AND ENZYMATIC TREATMENTS

In order to investigate the antigenic properties of the proteins and m annoproteins present in the cell surface of Candida albicans, and to i dentify individual antigenic moieties and their distribution, a number of polyclonal antisera were obtained by immunizing rabbits with chemi cal and enzymatic cell wall extracts obtained from intact cells from b oth growth forms (yeast and mycelium) of the fungus. Prior to injectio n, wall moieties present in the extracts were subjected to different t reatments and/or purification procedures such as adsorption onto polys tyrene-latex microbeads or electrophoretic separation. When used as pr obes in indirect immunofluorescence assays, the different antisera gav e rise to different fluorescence patterns varying in intensity and top ological localization of the reactivity in C. albicans cells. When the different antisera were used as probes in Western blots of wall prote inaceous materials solubilized from both blastospores and germ tubes, differences in reactivity and specificity were readily discernible, al lowing to identify a number of common and form-specific cell wall comp onents. Of special interest was the fact that one of the antisera rais ed, after adsorption onto heat-killed blastospores, specifically recog nized medium to low molecular weight moieties present only in the cell wall extracts from germ tubes. When this antiserum was used as probe in immunofluorescence assays, reactivity was confined to the hyphal ex tensions. Together, these observations seem to indicate that the diffe rent antibody preparations described in this report could represent im portant tools in the study of different aspects of the cell wall biolo gy in C. albicans, including the identification and study of the distr ibution of common and form-specific cell wall-bound antigens.