Assessment and Optimizations of Candida albicans In Vitro Biofilm Assays

  • Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2017 Apr 24;61(5):e02749-16. doi: 10.1128/AAC.02749-16.
Matthew B Lohse  1  2 ,  Megha Gulati  3 ,  Ashley Valle Arevalo  3  4 ,  Adam Fishburn  3 ,  Alexander D Johnson  1  5 ,  Clarissa J Nobile  6
Affiliations
  • 1. Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA.
  • 2. Department of Biology, BioSynesis, Inc., San Francisco, California, USA.
  • 3. Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, School of Natural Sciences, University of California, Merced, Merced, California, USA.
  • 4. Quantitative and Systems Biology Graduate Program, University of California, Merced, Merced, California, USA.
  • 5. Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA.
  • 6. Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, School of Natural Sciences, University of California, Merced, Merced, California, USA [email protected].
PMID: 28289028 DOI: 10.1128/AAC.02749-16
Abstract

Candida albicans biofilms have a significant medical impact due to their rapid growth on implanted medical devices, their resistance to Antifungal drugs, and their ability to seed disseminated infections. Biofilm assays performed in vitro allow for rapid, high-throughput screening of gene deletion libraries or Antifungal compounds and typically serve as precursors to in vivo studies. Here, we compile and discuss the protocols for several recently published C. albicansin vitro biofilm assays. We also describe improved versions of these protocols as well as novel in vitro assays. Finally, we consider some of the advantages and disadvantages of these different types of assays.

Keywords
Candida albicans; biofilm; biofilm methods; biofilm protocols; biofilm screens; in vitro biofilm assays.