Candida albicans drug resistance related gene experssion in biofilm condition

Objectives: The opportunistic human pathogens Candida albicans can cause many serious systemic diseases and hard to deal with because of biofilm related drug resistance. The possible mechanism for this phenomenon may lie in the drug resistance related gene expression in biofilm condition. We compared the ABC transporters CDR1 gene and major facilitator superfamilies CaMDR gene expression between biofilm and plankton by RT-PCR. Methods: Candida albicans biofilm was formed in vitro in the chemostat. Candida albicans strains of mature biofilm were collected. The planktonic strains were collected by liquid culture. And by half-quantitive RT-PCR, we compared the CDR1 and MDR gene expression between biofilm and planktonic condition. Results: We observed the course of biofilm formation in chemostat, and by RT-PCR we found that in biofilm condition Candida albicans CDR1 gene upregulated significantly compared to planktonic strains, but for MDR gene, the upregulaiton is not significant. Conclusions: The mechanism of Candida albicans biofilm drug resistance is complex, and can not be explained by one reason. The Candida albicans drug resistance gene such as CDR and MDR gene may contribute to this phenomenon. So drug resistance gene expression is an open question, and needs more deeply research.