The fungus Candida albicans colonizes human oral cavity surfaces in conjunction with a complex microflora. C. albicans SC5314 formed biofilms on saliva-coated surfaces that in early stages of development consisted of approximately 30% hyphal forms. In mixed biofilms with the oral bacterium Streptococcus gordonii DL1, hyphal development by C. albicans was enhanced so that biofilms consisted of a...

The inoculum size effect in the dimorphic fungus Candida albicans results from production of an extracellular quorum-sensing molecule (QSM). This molecule prevents mycelial development in both a growth morphology assay and a differentiation assay using three chemically distinct triggers for germ tube formation (GTF): L-proline, N-acetylglucosamine, and serum (either pig or fetal bovine). In all...

Nuclear hormone receptors comprise a superfamily of ligand-modulated transcription factors that mediate the transcriptional activities of steroids, retinoids, and thyroid hormones. A growing number of related proteins have been identified that possess the structural features of hormone receptors, but that lack known ligands. Known as orphan receptors, these proteins represent targets for novel ...

We describe mechanistic investigations of a catalyst (1) that leads to selective epoxidation of farnesol at the 6,7-position, remote from the hydroxyl directing group. The experimental lineage of peptide 1 and a number of resin-bound peptide analogues were examined to reveal the importance of four N-terminal residues. We examined the selectivity of truncated analogues to find that a trimer is s...

The sesquiterpenoids nerolidol, farnesol, bisabolol, and apritone were investigated for their abilities to enhance bacterial permeability and susceptibility to exogenous antimicrobial compounds. Initially, it was observed by flow cytometry that these sesquiterpenoids promoted the intracellular accumulation of the membrane-impermeant nucleic acid stain ethidium bromide by live cells of Lactobaci...

Mammalian cell proteins, modified post-translationally by derivatives of [3H]mevalonic acid, were subjected to methylation and sulfonium salt cleavage reactions previously used to release isoprenoids from cysteine residues in yeast peptides. The labeled isoprenoid extracted into chloroform comigrated with farnesol through a series of chromatography steps including Sep-Pak C-18 fractionation, si...

Excised shoots and cell-free extracts prepared from Wedgwood iris (Iris hollandica Hoog. "Wedgwood") shoots metabolized (14)C-labeled mevalonic acid (MVA). By using cell-free extracts, the (14)C from MVA-1-(14)C was recovered as (14)CO(2), while that from MVA-2-(14)C was recovered as neutral terpenes, acid-hydrolyzable terpenes, or (14)CO(2). Also, under optimal incubation conditions, 12.8 nano...