Variations for susceptibilities to ultraviolet induced cellular inactivation and gene segregation among protoplast fusion hybrids of Candida albicans.

Hybrids of the naturally diploid, asexual and opportunistically pathogenic yeast, Candida albicans, can be obtained artificially by protoplast fusion. Evidence is presented that gene conversion and reciprocal recombination contribute to ultraviolet (UV)-induced segregations of heterozygous markers from both diploid and hybrid strains, and that hybrids also segregate through induced chromosome loss. Heterozygous diploid strains independently derived from the same wild-type diploid stock were alike in post-UV survival and segregational responses, and the organization of a four gene linkage group identified in diploids from the segregant products of reciprocal recombinations was transmitted intact to all hybrids from fusions between diploids of isogenic or nonisogenic backgrounds. However, hybrids arising independently from a given fusion cross differed significantly from each other in post-UV survival, absolute ability to segregate some parental markers, frequency of gene segregation, and proclivities for each of the three mechanisms of gene segregation. The bearings of the genetic backgrounds of parental strains and of growth temperatures during hybrid formation on each of these variables are described. The findings emphasize that awareness of the intrinsic heterogeneities of fusion hybrids is essential for reliable application of the protoplast fusion procedure to genetic analysis of C. albicans.