The characterization of Candida albicans strains with different degrees of virulence became very useful to understand the mechanisms of fungal virulence. Then, the objective of this study was to assess and compare the temporal profiles of biofilms formation, gene expression of ALS1, ALS3, HWP1, BCR1, EFG1, TEC1, SAP5, PLB2 and LIP9 and virulence in Galleria mellonella of C. albicans ATCC18804 and a clinical sample isolated from an HIV-positive patient (CA60). Although the CFU/mL counting was higher in biofilms formed in vitro by ATCC strain, the temporal profile of the analysis of the transcripts of the C. albicans strains was elevated to Ca60 compared to strain ATCC, especially in the genes HWP1, ALS3, SAP5, PLB2 and LIP9 (up regulation). Ca60 was more pathogenic for G. mellonella in the survival assay (p = 0.0394) and hemocytes density (p = 0.0349), agreeing with upregulated genes that encode the expression of hyphae and hydrolase genes of Ca60. In conclusion, the C. albicans strains used in this study differ in the amount of biofilm formation, virulence in vivo and transcriptional profiles of genes analyzed that can change factors associated with colonization, proliferation and survival of C. albicans at different niches. SAP5 and HWP1 were the genes more expressed in the formation of biofilm in vitro.
Keywords: Biofilms; Candida albicans; Galleria mellonella; Gene expression.