Lysine enhances the effect of amphotericin B against Candida albicans in vitro.

Amphotericin B (AmB) is a polyene antibiotic produced by Streptomyces nodosus and has been used for >50 years in the treatment of acute systemic fungal infections. In the present study, we demonstrated that lysine, an essential amino acid, could enhance the effect of AmB against Candida albicans in vitro, although lysine itself did not exert a fungicidal effect. In addition, the combination of AmB with lysine could provide an enhanced action against Candida parapsilosis and Cryptococcus neoformans compared with AmB alone.

Structural features and mechanism of translocation of non-LTR retrotransposons in Candida albicans.

A number of abundant mobile genetic elements called retrotransposons reverse transcribe RNA to generate DNA for insertion into eukaryotic genomes. Non-long-terminal repeat (non-LTR) retrotransposons represent a major class of retrotransposons, and transposons that move by target-primed reverse transcription lack LTRs characteristic of retroviruses and retroviral-like transposons. Yeast model systems in Candida albicans and Saccharomyces cerevisiae have been developed for the study of non-LTR retrotransposons.

Effect of amphotericin B on the metabolic profiles of Candida albicans.

Amphotericin B (AmB) is a polyene antifungal drug widely used for systemic fungal infections. In this study, a metabonomic method using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) was developed to characterize the metabolic profiles of Candida albicans cells exposed to AmB. Thirty-one differentially produced metabolites between AmB-treated and the control groups were identified, among which 10 metabolites were upregulated and 21 metabolites were downregulated.

Inhibitory effect of Shikonin on Candida albicans growth.

Our study showed that Shikonin (SK) could provide an action against almost all Candida albicans isolates tested. More importantly, to some Fluconazole (FCZ)-resistant Candida albicans, the action of SK (MIC(80) value 4 µg/mL) was shown to be >16 times higher than that of FCZ (MIC(80) >64 µg/mL). To clarify the mechanism underlying this action, we performed a comparative study in untreated control C.