Azole-resistance in Candida albicans is becoming common and is associated with the widespread prophylactic use of azoles. Resistance to one azole is usually associated with resistance to other structurally dissimilar azoles. C.albicans is also inherently resistant to a wide range of eukaryotic inhibitors such as cycloheximide and gentamycin. Certain studies have shown that azole-resistance in some strains of C.albicans is associated with alterations in the cell membrane. This project has sought to determine whether azole-resistance in C.albicans strain 3302 was due, at least in part, to a multidrug resistance mechanism. An assay was developed using the fluorescent dye Rh123 to measure P-glycoprotein like activity. Active efflux of Rh123 has been shown to correlate with P-glycoprotein activity in a number of organisms. Results from this assay suggest that an energy-dependent efflux mechanism for Rh123 is present in azole-resistant strain 3302 but not in azole-sensitive strain 3153. The P-glycoprotein inhibitor, reserpine, inhibited Rh123 efflux. However, azoles did not appear to compete with Rh123 for efflux in the azole-resistant strain 3302, suggesting that azole-resistance in this strain is not mediated by a P-glycoprotein like mechanism. Southern analysis showed that sequences homologous to MDR genes existed in C.albicans. A PCR strategy was used to clone gene fragments containing the Walker motif which is found in MDR genes.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:484122 |
| Date | January 1994 |
| Creators | Clark, Fiona S. |
| Publisher | University of Aberdeen |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://digitool.abdn.ac.uk/R?func=search-advanced-go&find_code1=WSN&request1=AAIU073141 |
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