[34] Adhesion of fungi

Adhesion of a fungus to an appropriate surface precipitates a variety of biological events that could influence fungal survival and could ultimately jeopardize the viability or integrity of the host surface. Following adhesion, fungal spores elaborate vegetative growth structures or produce structures that penetrate the host surface. Understanding the mechanisms of fungal adhesion to inanimate and animate structures is tantamount to the development of effective modalities for inhibiting (or enhancing) successful fungal colonization. This chapter describes the development of fungal adhesion assays along with details of two convenient assays. The general designs of the adhesion assays closely mimic those used for studying bacterial adhesion. Bacterial adhesion assays may translate to fungal systems relatively well. Caveats that must be considered when applying bacterial adhesion assay designs to fungi are also discussed in the chapter. One common practice in preparing cells for adhesion assays is to fix the cells with glutaraldehyde, formalin, or other similar agent, or to kill the cells with a chemical agent. Although this practice provides a means to prepare a common, convenient source of cells and prevents cell growth during the adhesion assay, it results in alterations in the cell surface that may influence the outcome of the experiment.