Genotypic and Phenotypic Changes in Candida albicans as a Result of Cold Plasma Treatment.

Ewa Tyczkowska-Sieroń,Tadeusz Kałużewski,Magdalena Grabiec,Bogdan Kałużewski,Jacek Tyczkowski

doi:10.3390/ijms21218100

Ewa Tyczkowska-Sieroń, Tadeusz Kałużewski + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms21218100

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Abstract

We treated Candida albicans cells with a sublethal dose of nonequilibrium (cold) atmospheric-pressure He plasma and studied alterations in the genome of this fungus as well as changes in the phenotypic traits, such as assimilation of carbon from carbohydrates, hydrolytic enzyme activity, and drug susceptibility. There is a general problem if we use cold plasma to kill microorganism cells and some of them survive the process—whether the genotypic and phenotypic features of the cells are significantly altered in this case, and, if so, whether these changes are environmentally hazardous. Our molecular genetic studies have identified six single nucleotide variants, six insertions, and five deletions, which are most likely significant changes after plasma treatment. It was also found that out of 19 tested hydrolytic enzymes, 10 revealed activity, of which nine temporarily decreased their activity and one (naphthol-AS-BI- phosphohydrolase) permanently increased activity as a result of the plasma treatment. In turn, carbon assimilation and drug susceptibility were not affected by plasma. Based on the performed studies, it can be concluded that the observed changes in C. albicans cells that survived the plasma action are not of significant importance to the environment, especially for the drug resistance and pathogenicity of this fungus.

Highlights

The application of nonequilibrium atmospheric-pressure plasma for the inactivation of microorganisms in the areas of medicine, biotechnology, and food processing has attracted a rapidly growing interest in recent years
The analysis aims to identify possible genetic changes caused by cold plasma treatment
One of the problems associated with the development of plasma medicine is the risk that microorganisms surviving the plasma action may unfavorably change their characteristics; for example, their virulence or resistance to drugs may increase

Summary

Introduction

The application of nonequilibrium (cold) atmospheric-pressure plasma for the inactivation of microorganisms in the areas of medicine, biotechnology, and food processing has attracted a rapidly growing interest in recent years. A significant problem that has emerged as a result of these studies is the finding that plasma treatment does not necessarily kill all microorganisms in the area of plasma action. Dangerous changes would be the increase in virulence and drug resistance, which would place the application of plasma technology in a disadvantageous position in medicine. Researchers have just turned their attention to the plasma-induced sublethal effects in living organisms [19,20], studying them on isolated DNA [21,22,23] or enzymes [24], the precise meIncth. Ja. nMiosl.mScio. 2f0t2h0,is21p, xhFeOnRoPmEeERnoRnEV, IeEsWpecially the types of DNA damage, is poorly characteriz2eodf 1[525]

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