Fungi are surrounded by an essential structure, the cell wall, which not only confers cell shape but also protects cells from environmental stress. As a consequence, yeast cells growing under cell wall damage conditions elicit rescue mechanisms to provide maintenance of cellular integrity and fungal survival. Through transcriptional reprogramming, yeast modulate the expression of genes importan...

BACKGROUND In this study we examine the integrity of the cell wall during scale up of a yeast fermentation process from laboratory scale (10 L) to industrial scale (10,000 L). In a previous study we observed a clear difference in the volume fraction occupied by yeast cells as revealed by wet cell weight (WCW) measurements between these scales. That study also included metabolite analysis which ...

Candida albicans is a human opportunist pathogen that can grow as yeast, pseudohyphae, or true hyphae in vitro and in vivo, depending on environmental conditions. Reversible cellular morphogenesis is an important virulence factor that facilitates invasion of host tissues, escape from phagocytes, and dissemination in the blood stream. The innate immune system is the first line of defense against...

The cell wall of Saccharomyces cerevisiae is an elastic structure that provides osmotic and physical protection and determines the shape of the cell. The inner layer of the wall is largely responsible for the mechanical strength of the wall and also provides the attachment sites for the proteins that form the outer layer of the wall. Here we find among others the sexual agglutinins and the floc...

Fungal cell wall assembly is a complicated process involving multiple enzymes and coordinated signaling pathways. The cell wall integrity MAPK pathway acts to stabilize the fungal cell wall during conditions of elevated temperature by regulation of glucan synthesis. The upstream kinase, BCK1, is a critical component of this pathway. Pneumonia is a significant cause of death from the fungal oppo...

Yeast cells are non-motile and are encased in a cell wall that supports high internal turgor pressure. The cell wall is also essential for cellular morphogenesis and cell division. Here, we report unexpected morphogenetic changes in a Schizosaccharomyces pombe mutant defective in cell wall biogenesis. These cells form dynamic cytoplasmic protrusions caused by internal turgor pressure and also e...

The cell wall of a yeast cell forms a barrier for various proteinaceous and nonproteinaceous molecules. Nisin, a small polypeptide and a well-known preservative active against gram-positive bacteria, was tested with wild-type Saccharomyces cerevisiae. This peptide had no effect on intact cells. However, removal of the cell wall facilitated access of nisin to the membrane and led to cell rupture...

Histoplasma capsulatum strains can be classified into two chemotypes based on cell wall composition. The cell wall of chemotype II yeast contains a layer of α-(1,3)-glucan that masks immunostimulatory β-(1,3)-glucans from detection by the Dectin-1 receptor on host phagocytes. This α-(1,3)-glucan cell wall component is essential for chemotype II Histoplasma virulence. In contrast, chemotype I ye...

The yeast cell wall is constantly remodeled to enable cell growth and division. In this study, we describe a novel type of cell wall modification. We report that the drug amiodarone induces rapid channel formation within the cell wall of the yeast Hansenula polymorpha. Light microscopy shows that shortly after adding amiodarone, spherical structures, which can be stained with DNA binding dyes, ...

The cell wall of Aspergillus fumigatus is composed of a branched beta1,3 glucan covalently bound to chitin, beta1,3, beta1,4 glucans, and galactomannan, that is embedded in an amorphous cement composed of alpha1,3 glucan, galactomannan and polygalactosamin. The mycelial cell wall of A. fumigatus is very different from the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae cell wall, and in particular lacks beta1,6...