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Patho-yeast Resistance
13 January 2015

Patho-yeast Resistance

Pathogenic, or disease-causing, yeast infections such as Candida albicans often build up strong defence barriers, called biofilms, which are resistant to our immune system and to many drugs. Pictured here under a microscope, a gene from C. albicans called PGA22 has been artificially inserted into hundreds of Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast cells (stained in blue), changing the structure of their cell walls and forcing them to clump together, much like C. albicans yeast do when forming biofilms. Investigating how single genes can have such profound effects on microscopic life is interesting by itself, but may also provide an exploitable weakness in biofilm defences. C. albicans lives naturally and harmlessly in our guts, but sometimes overgrows when the immune system is weakened. Preventing this could help to fend off candidiasis, a cause of muscle and joint pain and nasty skin conditions.

Written by John Ankers

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BPoD stands for Biomedical Picture of the Day. Managed by the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences until Jul 2023, it is now run independently by a dedicated team of scientists and writers. The website aims to engage everyone, young and old, in the wonders of biology, and its influence on medicine. The ever-growing archive of more than 4000 research images documents over a decade of progress. Explore the collection and see what you discover. Images are kindly provided for inclusion on this website through the generosity of scientists across the globe.

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