Freeze-fracture electron microscopic studies of age-related plasma membrane changes in Sporothrix schenckii

Abstract

Characteristics of the plasma membrane of Sporothrix scheckii cells as revealed by freeze-fracture techniques have been classified into eight types (Y1, Y2a, Y2b, Y3a, Y3b, Y4a, Y4b, and Y5) in yeastlike cells grown under the following two conditions: brain heart infusion agar medium at 27 °C, and brain heart infusion agar medium at 37 °C. Type Y1 cells are yeastlike cells having smooth plasma membranes without any invagination. Typical characteristics of the other types are as follows: type Y2a, smooth plasma membranes with few trenchlike invaginations; type Y2b, wavy plasma membranes with few oval or irregularly formed invaginations; type Y3a, plasma membranes with many randomly distributed trenchlike invaginations; type Y3b, plasma membranes with many cocoonlike or irregularly formed invaginations; type Y4a, plasma membranes with longer trenchlike invaginations; type Y4b, plasma membranes with irregularly formed, enlarged invaginations; and type Y5, smooth or wavy plasma membranes with aggregations of intramembranous particles and with many vacuoles between cell walls and plasma membranes or in the cytoplasm in some cells. By counting the proportion of each type of yeastlike cell under the two conditions and with different cultivation periods, it appears that plasma membrane types change as aging progresses in the following order: type Y1, Y2a, Y3a, Y4a, and Y5 in conidia and type Y1, Y2b, Y3b, Y4b, and Y5 in yeastlike vegetative cells. These observations provide us with an important advantage when studying the effects of antifungal agents on the plasma membrane of Sporothrix scheckii, as it is important to know the natural course of changes in membrane structure during aging.