Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2012 Apr;78(7):2443-5.
doi: 10.1128/AEM.06343-11. Epub 2012 Jan 13.

External ecological niche for Candida albicans within reducing, oxygen-limited zones of wetlands

Wendy Stone  1 , Barbara-Lee Jones, Jac Wilsenach, Alfred Botha
Affiliations

External ecological niche for Candida albicans within reducing, oxygen-limited zones of wetlands

Wendy Stone et al. Appl Environ Microbiol. 2012 Apr.

Abstract

Candida albicans within the human host is well studied; however, identifying environmental reservoirs of pathogens is epidemiologically valuable for disease management. Oxygen-limited, carbohydrate-rich zones of wetlands, to which sewage-borne C. albicans is often exposed, are characteristically similar to the gastrointestinal reservoir. Consequently, using quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), we demonstrated that oxygen-limited zones in polluted wetlands may act as potential reservoirs of C. albicans.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1
The different zones in the Plankenberg River that were studied included a shallow zone (W), 50 cm below the surface comprising clear, flowing water, and two deeper zones, situated 70 cm below the river surface. The latter included a rock-filtered zone (R) comprising slow-flowing water devoid of macrophytes situated on the rocky river bed and a plant-filtered zone (P) situated within slow-flowing water, between macrophytes and plant debris, on the river bed near the bank. Since the redox potentials of the W and R zones were notably higher than that of the P zone, the latter was referred to as the oxygen-limited, reducing zone and the W and R zones as the aerobic, oxidizing zones.
Fig 2
Fig 2
Total coliform counts (A) and total yeast counts (B) in different zones of the Plankenburg River monitored over rainy and dry seasons. The rainy season is indicated; the rest of the year is predominantly dry. The dashed line represents clear, flowing water (W), the solid line represents rock-filtered zones (R), and the dotted line represents plant debris-filtered zones (P). All zones are ca. 50 cm below the water surface level. Counts were determined with three replicates per sample (n = 3). Total yeast and coliform concentrations in the respective zones were compared with a box-and-whisker plot showing means (♦, ●, or ○), standard deviations (□), and 1.96 × standard deviation (error bars).
Fig 3
Fig 3
Carbohydrate concentrations, determined using GC-MS, remaining in a wetland plant debris extract after anaerobic culturing with C. albicans strains (CAB 628-1, CAB 628-2, TH 8908, and TH 8912), in comparison with uninoculated controls. The yeast was cultured in the plant extract for ca. 7 h at 30°C. The sugars assessed for assimilation by C. albicans include glucose (A), fructose (B), and galactose (C). The results are the means (■) of three repetitions. Standard deviations (□) and (1.96 × standard deviation) (error bars) are depicted.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Atlas RM. 1993. Alphabetical listing of media, p 533, 786 In Parks LC. (ed), Handbook of microbiological media. CRC Press, London, United Kingdom
    1. Brinkman NE, et al. 2003. Evaluation of a rapid, quantitative real-time PCR method for enumeration of pathogenic Candida cells in water. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 69: 1775–1782 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Efstratiou M, Mavridou A, Richardson S, Papadakis J. 1998. Correlation of bacterial indicator organisms with Salmonella spp., Staphylococcus aureus and Candida albicans in seawater. Lett. Appl. Microbiol. 26: 342–346 - PubMed
    1. Kirby CS, Thomas HM, Southam G, Donald R. 1999. Relative contributions of abiotic and biological factors in Fe(II) oxidation in mine drainage. Appl. Geochem. 14: 511–530
    1. Kurtzman CA, Fell JW. 2000. The yeasts: a taxonomic study, 4th ed, p 9–12, 476–479 Elsevier Science, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources