Acid lipase from Candida viswanathii: production, biochemical properties, and potential application

Extremophilic lipases for industrial applications: A general review

With industrialization and development in modern science enzymes and their applications increased widely. There is always a hunt for new proficient enzymes with novel properties to meet specific needs of various industrial sectors. Along with the high efficiency, the green and eco-friendly side of enzymes attracts human attention, as they form a true answer to counter the hazardous and toxic conventional industrial catalyst. Lipases have always earned industrial attention due to the broad range of hydrolytic and synthetic reactions they catalyse. When these catalytic properties get accompanied by features like temperature stability, pH stability, and solvent stability lipases becomes an appropriate tool for use in many industrial processes. Extremophilic lipases offer the same, thermostable: hot and cold active thermophilic and psychrophilic lipases, acid and alkali resistant and active acidophilic and alkaliphilic lipases, and salt tolerant halophilic lipases form excellent biocatalyst for detergent formulations, biofuel synthesis, ester synthesis, food processing, pharmaceuticals, leather, and paper industry. An interesting application of these lipases is in the bioremediation of lipid waste in harsh environments. The review gives a brief account on various extremophilic lipases with emphasis on thermophilic, psychrophilic, halophilic, alkaliphilic, and acidophilic lipases, their sources, biochemical properties, and potential applications in recent decades.

Recent Advances in Feedstock and Lipase Research and Development towards Commercialization of Enzymatic Biodiesel

Biodiesel is a biodegradable, renewable, and carbon-neutral alternative to petroleum diesel that can contribute to the global effort of minimizing the use of fossil fuels and meeting the ever-growing energy demands and stringent environmental constraints. The aim of this work was to (1) review the recent progress in feedstock development, including first, second, third, and fourth-generation feedstocks for biodiesel production; (2) discuss recent progress in lipase research and development as one of the key factors for establishing a cost-competitive biodiesel process in terms of enzyme sources, properties, immobilization, and transesterification efficiency; and (3) provide an update of the current challenges and opportunities for biodiesel commercialization from techno-economic and social perspectives. Related biodiesel producers, markets, challenges, and opportunities for biodiesel commercialization, including environmental considerations, are critically discussed.

Impeding Virulence of Candida albicans by Candesartan and Domperidone

Candida albicans is the most common human fungal pathogen that has developed extensive virulence factors which allows successful colonization and infection of the host. Anti-virulence agents can alleviate the pathogenesis of fungi and help the immune system to eradicate them easily. This study aimed to explore the anti-virulence effect of domperidone and candesartan against C. albicans standard strain. Sub-inhibitory concentrations (1/4 and 1/8 of minimum inhibitory concentration) of domperidone and candesartan significantly inhibited the virulence factors hemolysin, lipase, protease, phospholipase, and bioflim formation. It was found that candesartan inhibited biofilm formation by 60.48-67.91%, hemolysin activity (61.21-74.14%), phospholipase activity (40-49.67%), lipase activity (58.97-73%), and protease activity (52.63%), while domperidone was found to inhibit biofilm formation by 70.54-77.49%, hemolysin activity (64.84-69.84%), phospholipase activity (49.67-60%), lipase activity (50-54.87%), and protease activity (52.63-57.9%). Quantitative real time-PCR confirmed the anti-virulence activity of domperidone and candesartan as both drugs significantly reduce the expression of the virulence genes SAP2, SAP6, PLB1, PLB2, LIP4, LIP5. In conclusion, domperidone and candesartan could serve as anti-virulence agents for treatment of C. albicans infections.

The Occurrence of Triple Catalytic Characteristics of Yeast Lipases and Their Application Prospects in Biodiesel Production from Non-Edible Jatropha curcas Oil in a Solvent-Free System

Extracellular and cell-bound lipase-producing yeasts were isolated from the palm oil mill wastes and investigated for their potential uses as biocatalysts in biodiesel production. Twenty-six yeast strains were qualitatively screened as lipase producers. From those yeast strains, only six were selected and screened further for quantitative lipase production.The phylogenetic affiliations of the yeast strains were confirmed by investigating the D1/D2 domains of 26S rDNA and ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 molecular regions of the six yeast strains selected as potent lipase producers. The three yeast strains A4C, 18B, and 10F showed a close association with Magnusiomyces capitatus. Two yeast strains (17B and AgB) had a close relationship with Saprochaete clavata, whereas the strain AW2 was identified as Magnusiomyces spicifer. Three main catalytic activities of the yeast lipases were evaluated and Magnusiomyces capitatus A4C, among the selected lipase-producing yeasts, had the highest extracellular lipolytic enzyme activity (969 U/L) with the cell-bound lipolytic enzyme activity of 11.3 U/gdm. The maximum cell-bound lipolytic activity (12.4 U/gdm) was observed in the cell-bound lipase fraction produced by Magnusiomyces spicifer AW2 with an extracellular lipolytic enzyme activity of 886 U/L. Based on the specific hydrolytic enzymatic activities, the cell-bound lipases (CBLs) from the three yeast strains M. capitatus A4C, M. spicifer AW2, and Saprochaete clavata 17B were further investigated for biodiesel production. Among them, the CBL from M. spicifer AW2 synthesized the most FAME (fatty acid methyl esters) at 81.2% within 12 h indicating that it has potential for application in enzymatic biodiesel production.

Expression of novel acidic lipase from Micrococcus luteus in Pichia pastoris and its application in transesterification

Background

Lipases are promising biocatalysts for industrial applications and attract attention to be explored. A novel acidic lipase has been isolated from the lipolytic bacteria Micrococcus luteus EMP48-D (LipEMP48-D) screened from tempeh. The lipase gene had previously been overexpressed in Escherichia coli BL21, but the expression level obtained was relatively low. Here, to improve the expression level, the lipase gene was cloned to Pichia pastoris. We eliminated the native signal sequence of M. luteus and replaced it with α-mating factor (α-MF) signal sequence. We also optimized and synthesized the lipase gene based on codon preference in P. pastoris.

Results

LipEMP48-D lipase was expressed as an extracellular protein. Codon optimization has been conducted for 20 codons, with the codon adaption index reaching 0.995. The highest extracellular lipase activity obtained reached 145.4 ± 4.8 U/mg under AOX1 promoter in P. pastoris KM71 strain, which was 9.7-fold higher than the previous activity in E. coli. LipEMP48-D showed the highest specific activity at pH 5.0 and stable within the pH range 3.0–5.0 at 40 °C. LipEMP48-D also has the capability of hydrolyzing various long-chain triglycerides, particularly olive oil (100%) followed by sunflower oil (88.5%). LipEMP48-D exhibited high tolerance for various polar organic solvents with low log P, such as isopropanol (115.7%) and butanol (114.6%). The metal ions (Na⁺, K⁺, Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, Mn⁺) decreased enzyme activity up to 43.1%, while Fe²⁺ increased relative activity of enzymes up to 200%. The conversion of free fatty acid (FFA) into fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) was low around 2.95%.

Conclusions

This study was the first to report overexpression of Micrococcus lipase in yeast. The extracellular expression of this acidic lipase could be potential for biocatalyst in industrial fields, especially organic synthesis, food industry, and production of biodiesel.

Comparative assessment of three RNA extraction methods for obtaining high-quality RNA from Candida viswanathii biomass

Isolating high quality RNA is a limiting factor in molecular analysis, since it is the base for transcriptional studies. The RNA extraction method can directly affect the RNA quality and quantity, as well as, its overall cost. The industrial importance of the yeast genus Candida in several sectors comes from their capacity to produce Lipases. These enzymes are one of the main metabolites produced by some Candida species, and it has been shown that Candida yeast can biodegrade petroleum hydrocarbons and diesel oil from biosurfactants that they can produce, a feature that turns these organisms into potential combatants for bioremediation techniques. Thus, this study aimed to determine an efficient method for isolating high quality RNA from Candida viswanathii biomass. To achieve this aim, three different RNA extraction methods, TRIzol, Hot Acid Phenol, and CTAB (Cetyltrimethylammonium Bromide), were tested. The three tested methods allowed the isolation of high-quality RNA from C. viswanathii biomass and yielded suitable RNA quantity for carrying out RT-qPCR studies. In addition, all methods displayed high sensitivity for the expression analysis of the CvGPH1 gene through RT-qPCR, with TRIzol and CTAB showing the best results and the CTAB method displaying the best cost-benefit ratio (US$0.35/sample).

Microbiota profiling and screening of the lipase active halotolerant yeasts of the olive brine

Searching for novel enzymes that could be active in organic solvents has become an area of interest in recent years. Olive brine naturally provides a suitable environment for the survival of halophilic and acidophilic microorganisms and the resulting genome is thought to be a gene source for determining the halophilic and acidophilic proteins that are active in a non-aqueous organic solvent medium, and so it has been used in several biotechnological and industrial applications. In this study, microbial analysis of natural, cracked green olive brine from the southern region of Turkey has been made by next-generation sequencing of the brine metagenome for the first time in the literature. The number of reads assigned to fungal operational taxonomic units was the highest percentage (73.04%) with the dominant representation of Ascomycota phylum (99% of fungi). Bacterial OTU was 3.56% of the reads and Proteobacteria phylum was 65% of the reads. The lipase production capacity of the yeasts that were grown on the media containing elevated concentrations of NaCl (1-3 M) was determined on a Rhodamine B-including medium. Molecular identification of the selected yeasts was performed and 90% of sequenced yeasts had a high level of similarity with Candida diddensiae, whereas 10% showed similarity to Candida boidinii. The hydrolytic lipase activities using olive oil were analyzed and both yeasts showed cell-bound lipase activity at pH 3.0.

Microbial lipases and their industrial applications: a comprehensive review

Lipases are very versatile enzymes, and produced the attention of the several industrial processes. Lipase can be achieved from several sources, animal, vegetable, and microbiological. The uses of microbial lipase market is estimated to be USD 425.0 Million in 2018 and it is projected to reach USD 590.2 Million by 2023, growing at a CAGR of 6.8% from 2018. Microbial lipases (EC 3.1.1.3) catalyze the hydrolysis of long chain triglycerides. The microbial origins of lipase enzymes are logically dynamic and proficient also have an extensive range of industrial uses with the manufacturing of altered molecules. The unique lipase (triacylglycerol acyl hydrolase) enzymes catalyzed the hydrolysis, esterification and alcoholysis reactions. Immobilization has made the use of microbial lipases accomplish its best performance and hence suitable for several reactions and need to enhance aroma to the immobilization processes. Immobilized enzymes depend on the immobilization technique and the carrier type. The choice of the carrier concerns usually the biocompatibility, chemical and thermal stability, and insolubility under reaction conditions, capability of easy rejuvenation and reusability, as well as cost proficiency. Bacillus spp., Achromobacter spp., Alcaligenes spp., Arthrobacter spp., Pseudomonos spp., of bacteria and Penicillium spp., Fusarium spp., Aspergillus spp., of fungi are screened large scale for lipase production. Lipases as multipurpose biological catalyst has given a favorable vision in meeting the needs for several industries such as biodiesel, foods and drinks, leather, textile, detergents, pharmaceuticals and medicals. This review represents a discussion on microbial sources of lipases, immobilization methods increased productivity at market profitability and reduce logistical liability on the environment and user.

Deficiency of biodegradable plastic-degrading enzyme production in a gene-deletion mutant of phyllosphere yeast, Pseudozyma antarctica defective in mannosylerythritol lipid biosynthesis

The basidiomycetous yeast Pseudozyma antarctica (currently designated Moesziomyces antarcticus) produces extracellular enzymes and glycolipids, including mannosylerythritol lipids (MELs), which are biosurfactants. Strain GB-4(0) of this species was previously isolated from rice husks and produces biodegradable plastic-degrading enzyme (Pseudozyma antarctica esterase; PaE). In this study, we generated a MEL biosynthesis-deficient strain (∆PaEMT1) by deleting the gene PaEMT1, which is essential to MEL biosynthesis in strain GB-4(0). The resulting ∆PaEMT1 strain showed deficient PaE activity, and the corresponding signal was hardly detected in its culture supernatant through western blotting analysis using rabbit anti-PaE serum. On the other hand, the relative expression of the gene PaCLE1, encoding PaE, was identical between GB-4(0) and ∆PaEMT1 based on quantitative real-time PCR. When strain ∆PaEMT1 was grown in culture media supplemented with various surfactants, i.e., Tween20, BRIJ35 and TritonX-100, and MELs, PaE activity and secretion recovered. We also attempted to detect intracellular PaE using cell-free extract, but observed no signal in the soluble or insoluble fractions of ∆PaEMT1. This result suggested that the PaCLE1 gene was not translated to PaE, or that expressed PaE was degraded immediately in ∆PaEMT1. Based on these results, MEL biosynthesis is an important contributor to PaE production.

New Recombinant Cold-Adapted and Organic Solvent Tolerant Lipase from Psychrophilic Pseudomonas sp. LSK25, Isolated from Signy Island Antarctica

In recent years, studies on psychrophilic lipases have become an emerging area of research in the field of enzymology. The study described here focuses on the cold-adapted organic solvent tolerant lipase strain Pseudomonas sp. LSK25 isolated from Signy Station, South Orkney Islands, maritime Antarctic. Strain LSK25 lipase was successfully cloned, sequenced, and over-expressed in an Escherichia coli system. Sequence analysis revealed that the lipase gene of Pseudomonas sp. LSK25 consists of 1432 bp, lacks an N-terminal signal peptide and encodes a mature protein consisting of 476 amino acids. The recombinant LSK25 lipase was purified by single-step purification using Ni-Sepharose affinity chromatography and had a molecular mass of approximately 65 kDa. The final recovery and purification fold were 44% and 1.3, respectively. The LSK25 lipase was optimally active at 30 °C and at pH 6. Stable lipolytic activity was reported between temperatures of 5–30 °C and at pH 6–8. A significant enhancement of lipolytic activity was observed in the presence of Ca²⁺ ions, the organic lipids of rice bran oil and coconut oil, a synthetic C12 ester and a wide range of water immiscible organic solvents. Overall, lipase strain LSK25 is a potentially desirable candidate for biotechnological application, due to its stability at low temperatures, across a range of pH and in organic solvents.

Purification and Characterization of Lipase Produced by Leuconostoc mesenteroides Subsp. mesenteroides ATCC 8293 Using an Aqueous Two-Phase System (ATPS) Composed of Triton X-100 and Maltitol

Purification of lipase produced by L. mesenteroides subsp. mesenteroides ATCC 8293 was conducted for the first time using a novel aqueous two-phase system (ATPS) composed of Triton X-100 and maltitol. The partitioning of lipase was optimized according to several parameters including pH, temperature, and crude load. Results showed that lipase preferentially migrated to the Triton X-100 rich phase and optimum lipase partitioning was achieved in ATPS at TLL of 46.4% and crude load of 20% at 30 °C and pH 8, resulting in high lipase purification factor of 17.28 and yield of 94.7%. The purified lipase showed a prominent band on SDS-PAGE with an estimated molecular weight of 50 kDa. The lipase was stable at the temperature range of 30–60 °C and pH range of 6–11, however, it revealed its optimum activity at the temperature of 37 °C and pH 8. Moreover, lipase exhibited enhanced activity in the presence of non-ionic surfactants with increased activity up to 40%. Furthermore, results exhibited that metals ions such as Na⁺, Mg²⁺, K⁺ and Ca²⁺ stimulated lipase activity. This study demonstrated that this novel system could be potentially used as an alternative to traditional ATPS for the purification and recovery of enzymes since the purified lipase still possesses good process characteristics after undergoing the purification process.

Improving α, ω-dodecanedioic acid productivity from n-dodecane and hydrolysate of Candida cells by membrane integrated repeated batch fermentation

The aim of the present study is to develop an effective production process for α, ω-dodecanedioic acid (DC₁₂) biosynthesis using n-dodecane and hydrolysate of Candida cells as substrates by membrane integrated repeated batch fermentation. Cells and n-dodecane were simultaneously recycled during the filtration of fermentation broth (FB) with a 150 kDa ceramic membrane under a cross-flow velocity of 4 m/s and a trans-membrane pressure of 0.2 MPa, and it was also revealed that the cells in the broth could alleviate the membrane fouling during the FB filtration. Moreover, the hydrolysate of the collected cells could be successfully used as a nitrogen source to replace 50% yeast extract for decreasing the DC₁₂ production cost. With repeated-batch culture in a membrane bioreactor, the maximal DC₁₂ productivity could be enhanced by 57.8% compared with the batch culture, meanwhile n-dodecane and cells could be recovered and used for the next fermentation cycle.

Optimization of physical conditions for the production of thermostable T1 lipase in Pichia guilliermondii strain SO using response surface methodology

BACKGROUND

Pichia guilliermondii was found capable of expressing the recombinant thermostable lipase without methanol under the control of methanol dependent alcohol oxidase 1 promoter (AOXp 1). In this study, statistical approaches were employed for the screening and optimisation of physical conditions for T1 lipase production in P. guilliermondii.

RESULT

The screening of six physical conditions by Plackett-Burman Design has identified pH, inoculum size and incubation time as exerting significant effects on lipase production. These three conditions were further optimised using, Box-Behnken Design of Response Surface Methodology, which predicted an optimum medium comprising pH 6, 24 h incubation time and 2% inoculum size. T1 lipase activity of 2.0 U/mL was produced with a biomass of OD₆₀₀ 23.0.

CONCLUSION

The process of using RSM for optimisation yielded a 3-fold increase of T1 lipase over medium before optimisation. Therefore, this result has proven that T1 lipase can be produced at a higher yield in P. guilliermondii.

α, ω-Dodecanedioic acid production by Candida viswanathii ipe-1 with co-utilization of wheat straw hydrolysates and n-dodecane

Candida viswanathii ipe-1 was used to produce α, ω-dodecanedioic acid (DC₁₂), which showed capability to ferment xylose and glucose simultaneously, while arabinose utilization was less efficient. A low concentration of furfural enhanced cell growth, and the addition of 4.0g/L sodium acetate largely increased DC₁₂ production. It indicated that detoxification of the wheat straw hydrolysates was not necessary for the biosynthesis of DC₁₂. Based on the promising features of our strain, an efficient process was developed to produce DC₁₂ from co-utilization of wheat straw hydrolysates and n-dodecane. Using this process, 129.7g/L DC₁₂ with a corresponding productivity of 1.13g·L^-1·h^-1 could be produced, which was increased by 40.0% compared with a sole carbon of glucose. The improved DC₁₂ yield by the co-utilization of wheat straw hydrolysates and n-dodecane using C. viswanathii ipe-1 demonstrates the great potential of using biomass as a feedstock in the production of DC₁₂.

Agroindustrial Wastes as Alternative for Lipase Production by Candida viswanathii under Solid-State Cultivation: Purification, Biochemical Properties, and Its Potential for Poultry Fat Hydrolysis

The aims of this work were to establish improved conditions for lipase production by Candida viswanathii using agroindustrial wastes in solid-state cultivation and to purify and evaluate the application of this enzyme for poultry fat hydrolysis. Mixed wheat bran plus spent barley grain (1 : 1, w/w) supplemented with 25.0% (w/w) olive oil increased the lipase production to 322.4%, compared to the initial conditions. When olive oil was replaced by poultry fat, the highest lipase production found at 40% (w/w) was 31.43 U/gds. By selecting, yeast extract supplementation (3.5%, w/w), cultivation temperature (30°C), and substrate moisture (40%, w/v), lipase production reached 157.33 U/gds. Lipase was purified by hydrophobic interaction chromatography, presenting a molecular weight of 18.5 kDa as determined by SDS-PAGE. The crude and purified enzyme showed optimum activity at pH 5.0 and 50°C and at pH 5.5 and 45°C, respectively. The estimated half-life at 50°C was of 23.5 h for crude lipase and 6.7 h at 40°C for purified lipase. Lipase presented high activity and stability in many organic solvents. Poultry fat hydrolysis was maximum at pH 4.0, reaching initial hydrolysis rate of 33.17 mmol/L/min. Thus, C. viswanathii lipase can be successfully produced by an economic and sustainable process and advantageously applied for poultry fat hydrolysis without an additional acidification step to recover the released fatty acids.

Bioprospecting of lipolytic microorganisms obtained from industrial effluents

ABSTRACT The lipases have ability to catalyze diverse reactions and are important in different biotechnological applications. The aim of this work was to isolate and characterize microorganisms that produce lipases, from different food industry effluents localized in Pelotas, RS/Brazil. Bacteria were identified using Gram stain and biochemical tests (Vitek 2(r)). Fungi were identified according to macro and micromorphology characteristics. The extracellular lipase production was evaluated using the Rhodamine B test and the enzymatic activity by titration. Twenty-one bacteria were isolated and identified as Klebsiella pneumoniae ssp. pneumoniae, Serratia marcescens, Enterobacter aerogenes, Raoultella ornithinolytica and Raoultella planticola. Were characterized isolated filamentous fungi by the following genera: Alternaria sp., Fusarium sp., Geotrichum sp., Gliocladium sp., Mucor sp., Paecilomyces sp. and Trichoderma sp. Extracellular lipase production was observed in 71.43% of the bacteria and 57.14% of the fungi. The bacterium that presented better promising enzymatic activity was E. aerogenes (1.54 U/ml) however between fungi there was not significant difference between the four isolates. This study indicated that microorganisms lipase producers are present in the industrial effluents, as well as these enzymes have potential of biodegradation of lipid compounds.

Comprehensive Analysis of a Yeast Lipase Family in the Yarrowia Clade

Lipases are currently the subject of intensive studies due to their large range of industrial applications. The Lip2p lipase from the yeast Yarrowia lipolytica (YlLIP2) was recently shown to be a good candidate for different biotechnological applications. Using a combination of comparative genomics approaches based on sequence similarity, synteny conservation, and phylogeny, we constructed the evolutionary scenario of the lipase family for six species of the Yarrowia clade. RNA-seq based transcriptome analysis revealed the primary role of LIP2 homologues in the assimilation of different substrates. Once identified, these YlLIP2 homologues were expressed in Y. lipolytica. The lipase Lip2a from Candida phangngensis was shown to naturally present better activity and enantioselectivity than YlLip2. Enantioselectivity was further improved by site-directed mutagenesis targeted to the substrate binding site. The mono-substituted variant V232S displayed enantioselectivity greater than 200 and a 2.5 fold increase in velocity. A double-substituted variant 97A-V232F presented reversed enantioselectivity, with a total preference for the R-enantiomer.

Recombinant Lipases and Phospholipases and Their Use as Biocatalysts for Industrial Applications

Lipases and phospholipases are interfacial enzymes that hydrolyze hydrophobic ester linkages of triacylglycerols and phospholipids, respectively. In addition to their role as esterases, these enzymes catalyze a plethora of other reactions; indeed, lipases also catalyze esterification, transesterification and interesterification reactions, and phospholipases also show acyltransferase, transacylase and transphosphatidylation activities. Thus, lipases and phospholipases represent versatile biocatalysts that are widely used in various industrial applications, such as for biodiesels, food, nutraceuticals, oil degumming and detergents; minor applications also include bioremediation, agriculture, cosmetics, leather and paper industries. These enzymes are ubiquitous in most living organisms, across animals, plants, yeasts, fungi and bacteria. For their greater availability and their ease of production, microbial lipases and phospholipases are preferred to those derived from animals and plants. Nevertheless, traditional purification strategies from microbe cultures have a number of disadvantages, which include non-reproducibility and low yields. Moreover, native microbial enzymes are not always suitable for biocatalytic processes. The development of molecular techniques for the production of recombinant heterologous proteins in a host system has overcome these constraints, as this allows high-level protein expression and production of new redesigned enzymes with improved catalytic properties. These can meet the requirements of specific industrial process better than the native enzymes. The purpose of this review is to give an overview of the structural and functional features of lipases and phospholipases, to describe the recent advances in optimization of the production of recombinant lipases and phospholipases, and to summarize the information available relating to their major applications in industrial processes.

Quantitative evaluation of fungi of the genus Candida in the feces of adult patients with type 1 and 2 diabetes - a pilot study

Background

Gastrointestinal tract microbiota, particularly bacterial microflora, seem to have a different qualitative and quantitative composition in both type 1 (T1DM) and type 2 diabetes (T2DM) mellitus cases as compared to non-diabetic individuals. So far, there are no data from diabetes research concerning the prevalence of fungi, particularly the most common genus, i.e. Candida, which are important components of human colon microflora.

We aimed to examine whether there are quantitative changes of Candida fungi in the feces of patients with T1DM and T2DM as compared to healthy controls.

Findings

Overall, we included 44 diabetic patients (27 patients with T1DM and 17 with T2DM) as well as 17 healthy, non-diabetic controls. Feces and blood samples were collected from all study individuals. DNA was isolated from fecal samples and quantitative real time PCR (qPCR) was applied in order to determine the number of fungal cells. Statistical association with selected clinical and biochemical features was examined.

There was a difference in the amount of Candida in the feces among the three examined groups (p = 0.007). Candida spp. populations in T1DM and T2DM subjects were larger as compared to controls (p = 0.017 and p = 0.037, respectively). However, no difference was found between T1DM and T2DM. No association was identified between the quantity of fungi and examined patients’ characteristics, except for negative correlation with blood lipid parameters in T2DM group.

Conclusions

Candida fungi appear to be more prevalent in the feces of patients with T1DM and T2DM. Their amount seems to be associated with serum lipids in T2DM patients. This initial finding requires further confirmation.