Heat shock induces chromosome loss in the yeast Candida albicans

The heat shock protocol described in this paper causes mitotic instability in log phase Candida albicans cells. Such instability is induced in diploid, aneuploid and tetraploid strains. The strains analysed are multiple heterozygotes which facilitates the detection of mitotic instability as manifested by the formation of homozygotes. Strains previously shown to be carrying cis linked mutant alleles show coincident segregation of the linked alleles. Conversely, strains which carry unlinked mutant alleles display no such coincident segregation. This segregation of complete linkage groups suggests that heat shock is inducing chromosome loss in C. albicans. The application of this protocol to the genetics of the imperfect fungus C. albicans has produced evidence of at least three chromosomes.