Infection by Candida spp. is associated with high mortality rates, especially when treatment is not appropriate and/or not immediate. Therefore, it is necessary to correctly identify the genus and species of Candida. The aim of this study was to compare the identification of 89 samples of Candida spp. by the manual methods germ tube test, auxanogram and chromogenic medium in relation to the ID ...

Eight isolates of C. albicans were used to determine the frequency with which germ tube formation occurred: on rice extract -Tween 80 agar, on its components, and on 1% bactopeptone agar after three hr at 37 degrees C; in 0.5% aqueous solution of various carbohydrates; in various concentrations of glucose; on 0.5 and 0.1% glucose agar and on various types of agar alone. Subsequently 250 isolate...

Rust fungi have a complex life cycle (see Littlefield 1981) and produce different spore forms. The basidiospores, aeciospores and uredospores develop highly specialized infection structures in order to penetrate into the leaf. The germ tune of the dikaryotic uredospore follows the array of wax crystals on the cuticle in a typical way and grows towards a stoma (Fig la). When the tip of the germ ...

Fig. 1. Axis specification and germ layer formation in the gastrulating mouse embryo. Between embryonic day E3.5 and E6.0, expansion of polar trophectoderm and the inner cell mass gives rise to extraembryonic ectoderm (grey) and the epiblast (blue), respectively. Primitive endoderm at the distal tip differentiates and is displaced to the prospective anterior side to become anterior visceral end...

BACKGROUND Candida albicans is the most common fungal pathogen isolated from clinical samples and is also the most common yeast species carried as a commensal by healthy individuals although some non-C. albicans species account for an important number of infections. OBJECTIVES To compare nine phenotypic systems for C. albicans identification [API 20C AUX; RapID Yeast Identification panel (RYI...

Candida albicans is an opportunistic dimorphic fungus that inhabits various host mucosal sites. Conversion from the yeast to the hyphal form has been associated with increased virulence and mucosal invasiveness. C. albicans morphogenesis is regulated by multiple signals and signaling pathways. However, signals that control morphogenesis in vivo are unknown. We investigated the effects of host l...

Flowering plants have evolved a unique reproductive process called double fertilization, whereby two dimorphic female gametes are fertilized by two immotile sperm cells conveyed by the pollen tube. The two sperm cells are arranged in tandem with a leading pollen tube nucleus to form the male germ unit and are placed under the same genetic controls. Genes controlling double fertilization have be...

The adult testis is the male reproductive organ that produces sex hormones for sexual behaviours and sperm in a well-controlled process called spermatogenesis. Spermatogenesis involves self-renewal and differentiation of the male germ stem cells spermatogonia, culminating in the production of sperm for germline transmission. Retinoic acid (RA) is essential for fate decision and meiosis entry of...

We developed a rapid genotypic assay to differentiate the germ tube-positive yeasts Candida albicans and Candida dubliniensis. Fluorescently labeled nucleic acid probe binding and subsequent denaturation from the target site in the PCR amplicons produced characteristic peak melting temperatures (T(m)) that identified each species. Peak T(m)s of C. albicans (n = 69) and C. dubliniensis (n = 28) ...

ABSTRACT Temperature is a critical factor in plant disease development. As part of a research program to determine how specific environmental variables affect soybean rust, we determined temperature effects on urediniospore germination and germ tube growth of four isolates of Phakopsora pachyrhizi, one each from Brazil, Hawaii, Taiwan, and Zimbabwe, and an isolate of P. meibomiae from Puerto Ri...