Growth phase is an important, species-specific determinant of yeast adhesion to abiotic surfaces

Different yeast species differ markedly in their ability to adhere to solid abiotic surfaces and form surface-associated biofilms. Yeast adhesion is influenced by multiple factors, including the genetically determined expression of specific adhesion proteins, the physiological state of the cells that determines whether adhesive properties are expressed, and environmental conditions such as growth medium and surface characteristics. In this study, we investigated how adhesion to a plastic (polystyrene) surface is affected by growth phase (exponential versus stationary) and cell morphology (yeast-form cells versus hyphae/pseudohyphae) in several Candida species and in selected clinical and wild strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, under different growth media conditions. We show that for most Candida species and S. cerevisiae, exponential-phase cells adhered to polystyrene more efficiently than stationary-phase cells. In contrast, both C. glabrata strains displayed the opposite trend - higher adhesion efficiency of stationary-phase cells than exponential-phase cells. A clear association between cell morphology and adhesion was observed only in C. albicans where hyphae or pseudohyphae adhered efficiently to polystyrene, whereas yeast-form cells were poorly adhesive. This morphology-dependent adhesion was not detected in other Candida species or in S. cerevisiae. Our results demonstrate that growth phase is an important, species-specific determinant of yeast adhesion to abiotic surfaces.