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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, December 2001, p. 5614-5620, Vol. 67, No. 12
School of Biological Sciences, University of
Manchester,1 and Avecia
Ltd.,2 Manchester, United Kingdom
Received 22 May 2001/Accepted 10 September 2001
Presently there is no method available that allows noninvasive and
real-time monitoring of fungal susceptibility to antimicrobial compounds. The green fluorescent protein (GFP) of the jellyfish Aequoria victoria was tested as a potential reporter
molecule for this purpose. Aureobasidium pullulans was
transformed to express cytosolic GFP using the vector pTEFEGFP (A. J. Vanden Wymelenberg, D. Cullen, R. N. Spear, B. Schoenike, and
J. H. Andrews, BioTechniques 23:686-690, 1997). The transformed
strain Ap1 gfp showed bright fluorescence that was
amenable to quantification using fluorescence spectrophotometry.
Fluorescence levels in Ap1 gfp blastospore suspensions
were directly proportional to the number of viable cells determined by
CFU plate counts (r2 > 0.99). The
relationship between cell viability and GFP fluorescence was
investigated by adding a range of concentrations of each of the
biocides sodium hypochlorite and
2-n-octylisothiozolin-3-one (OIT) to suspensions of Ap1
gfp blastospores (pH 5 buffer). These biocides each
caused a rapid (<25-min) loss of fluorescence of greater than 90%
when used at concentrations of 150 µg of available chlorine
ml
0099-2240/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/AEM.67.12.5614-5620.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Green Fluorescent Protein as a Novel Indicator of
Antimicrobial Susceptibility in Aureobasidium
pullulans
1 and 500 µg ml
1, respectively.
Further, loss of GFP fluorescence from A. pullulans cells was highly correlated with a decrease in the number of viable cells (r2 > 0.92). Losses of GFP
fluorescence and cell viability were highly dependent on external pH;
maximum losses of fluorescence and viability occurred at pH 4, while
reduction of GFP fluorescence was absent at pH 8.0 and was associated
with a lower reduction in viability. When A. pullulans
was attached to the surface of plasticized poly(vinylchloride) containing 500 ppm of OIT, fluorescence decreased more slowly than in
cell suspensions, with >95% loss of fluorescence after 27 h.
This technique should have broad applications in testing the
susceptibility of A. pullulans and other fungal species
to antimicrobial compounds.
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: School of
Biological Sciences, 1.800 Stopford Building, University of Manchester,
Oxford Rd., Manchester M13 9PT, United Kingdom. Phone: 44 (0)161 275 5048. Fax: 44 (0)161 275 5656. E-mail:
geoff.robson{at}man.ac.uk.
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