Increased virulence and competitive advantage of a/alpha over a/a or alpha/alpha offspring conserves the mating system of Candida albicans.

Abstract excerpt

The majority of Candida albicans strains in nature are a/alpha and must undergo homozygosis to a/a or alpha/alpha to mate. Here we have used a mouse model for systemic infection to test the hypothesis that a/alpha strains predominate in nature because they have a competitive advantage over a/a and alpha/alpha offspring in colonizing hosts. Single-strain injection experiments revealed that a/alpha strains were far...

Topics

Share this publication in a Topic to start or enrich a Post.

• Share to Antigens, Fungal
• Share to Binding, Competitive