Philip Anthony Geis

Polymorphism of Wangiella dermatitidis

Wangiella dermatitidis exhibits a polymorphism consisting of three well-defined morphologies, together with various forms characteristic of transitions among them (Figure 1). The organism may exist as moniliform or true hyphae, characterized by apical growth and production of blastoconidia. Alternatively, it may be found as unicellular budding yeasts, characterized by intermittent polar growth associated with bud formation and secondary isotropic (spherical) growth. Third, it may form enlarged, thick-walled cells, characterized by isotropic growth and, eventually, by the formation of internal septa. This third morphology, the multicellular form, resembles the sclerotic bodies produced by etiological agents of chromoblastomycosis (Rippon, 1982).

Visualization of yeast single-cells on fabric surface with a fluorescent glucose and their isolation for culture

An ultra-deep focusing range (UDF) fluorescent microscope system has been combined with a micromanipulation system to develop a viable cell detection-identification system applicable to microbes on environmental surfaces and products. Candida albicans yeast cells on a fabric sample surface were viably stained with a fluorescent glucose derivative, 2-[N-(7-nitrobenz-2-oxa-1,3-diazol-4-yl)amino]-2-deoxy glucose (2-NBDG) and detected with a UDF fluorescent microscope. Visualized single-cells of C. albicans were picked in a glass microcapillary and transferred onto an agar medium. After the culture, the colony was assayed for DNA sequence to identify the isolate. This demonstrates a potential application to the study of unknown environmental microorganisms.