Am J Clin Microbiol Antimicrob | Volume 1, Issue 3 | Research Article | Open Access
Awad Ali and Karuppayil SM*
School of Life Sciences, SRTM University, India
*Correspondance to: Karuppayil SM
Fulltext PDFCandida albicans is a commensal microorganism which lives in the oral, digestive and genitourinary tracts. Use of tobacco products such cigarettes and chewing tobacco can cause a number of health issues including oral cancer in humans. The yeast, C. albicans which is a normal flora in the mouth can cause oral candidiasis in immunocompromised patients including patients suffering from cancer. In this study, we have examined the effect of the tobacco extract on C. albicans morphogenesis. We found that the cold water and cold methanol extracts of chewing tobacco, cigarette and beedi tobacco can induce yeast to hyphal form transition of the human pathogen, C. albicans. Gas chromatographic mass spectroscopy analysis of cold methanolic extract of tobacco indicated the presence of various molecules including nicotine. This study indicates that tobacco is a good inducer medium for inducing yeast to hyphal form transition that may enhance the pathogenicity of C. albicans in humans.
Ali A, Karuppayil SM. Tobacco Extract Induces Yeast to Hyphal form Transition in the Human Pathogen, Candida albicans. Am J Clin Microbiol Antimicrob. 2018; 1(3): 1013.