Nutritional factors determine germ tube formation in Candida albicans

Abstract

Following a short (3 h) period of carbon starvation, exponential phase yeast cells of Candida albicans rapidly (T₅₀ 45 min) formed germ tubes in a glucose/ammonium ion solution. The presence of both a sugar (glucose, sucrose or galactose) and a nitrogen source (ammonium ion or an amino acid metabolized via glutamate) was critical for morphogenesis.