Deficit in oxygen causes G(2) budding and unbudded G(2) arrest in Cryptococcus neoformans

Cryptococcus neoformans exhibited diphasic growth when grown under limited aeration. First, it grew exponentially, but at OD 1, the concentration of d issolved oxygen in culture decreased to 1 mg l(-1) and a second phase of sl ow growth was started. This phase was characterized by a shift of budding f rom S to G(2), a sharp decrease in budding index and a sharp increase in th e proportion of unbudded G2 cells to 80%. Thus, a deficit in oxygen was dem onstrated to delay the timing of budding, prolong the G(2) phase and cause accumulation of cells after DNA synthesis, but before commitment to budding . (C) 2001 Federation of European Microbiological Societies. Published by E lsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.