Microsatellite genotypes and diploid sequence types (DSTs) obtained by MLP and MLST analysis of the clinical isolates used in this study.

<p>The corresponding date and local of isolation, as well as clade assignment based on MSLT, are also shown.</p><p>- data unknown; DST – diploid sequence type; S* - singleton.</p

<i>In vitro</i> susceptibility assay.

<p>Growth of 124A and 140A yeast cells at 37°C for 48 h on YPD and YPD containing 20mM acetic acid, 0.3M CaCl₂, 1M NaCl, 10mM MnSO₄, and 12mM caffeine. Drop tests were performed by spotting 10 µl of 10⁵, to 10² cells/ml dilutions.</p

Kidney histology.

<p>Representative micrographs of H&E/PAS-stained paraffin sections of kidneys recovered from mice infected with 10⁶ yeast cells at days 1 (A and B), 3 (C and D) and 7 (E and F) days post-infection with isolates 124A and 140A.The bar −100 µM.</p

Kidney fungal burden.

<p>Groups of four mice infected i.v. with 10⁶<i>C. albicans</i> cells were killed at 1, 3 and 7 days after challenge. Organs were homogenized in HBSS and the suspension diluted and cultured on Sabouraud dextrose agar. Results are presented as log of colony-forming units (CFUs). Statistically significant differences between results at each hour of infection as evaluated by Student's <i>t</i> test are labeled with single asterisk (<i>P</i><0.05).</p

Real time PCR cytokine quantification.

<p>RNA was extracted from spleen homogenates in HBSS of mice infected with 10⁶ yeast cells of 124A (□) or 140A (▪) by using the Trizol method and mRNA levels of IFN-γ (A), TNF-α (B) and IL-4 (C) quantified and expressed as copies per HPRT gene. Statistical significance was calculated by using Student's <i>t</i> test and significant differences are labeled with a single asterisk (<i>P</i><0.05) or triple asterisks (<i>P</i><0,0001).</p

<i>C. albicans</i> strain clustering.

<p>Similarities between MLST data were analyzed in terms of p distance with MEGA version 4.0 and nodal support values, after 1000 bootstrap replications, were calculated and are depicted on the UPGMA dendrogram.</p

Survival of BALB/c mice following i.v. infection with <i>C. albicans</i> strain variants.

<p>Mice were infected i.v with (A) 2×10⁶ cells of isolates 124A, 140, 140A or 144 or (B) 1×10⁶ cells of SC5314, 124A or 140A and the condition of the mice were assessed daily for 30 days.</p

Intraperitoneal inflammatory response to <i>C. albicans</i> strain variants.

<p>Kinetics of neutrophils (A) and macrophages (B) in the peritoneal cavity following i.p. infection of BALB/c mice with 10⁷ cells from strains 124A (solid line) and 140A (dashed lines). Cells were recovered by peritoneal lavage, and counting of leukocytes was performed by flow citometry. Statistically significant differences between results at 3, 8, 24 and 48 hours of infection, as evaluated by Student's <i>t</i> test, are labeled with double asterisks (<i>P</i><0.001).</p