Sabouraud dextrose agar

Fusarium oxysporum INCQS 40144 (ATCC^® 48112™) obtained from the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) (Manassas, VA, USA) was used to perform biosynthesis of AgNPs. The fungus was grown on Sabouraud dextrose agar (SDA, Neogen, MI, USA) at 28 °C for 5 days. The APDT experiments were performed with Fusarium keratoplasticum INCQS 40099 (ATCC 36031) and Candida albicans (ATCC 64548). F. keratoplasticum was grown in potato dextrose agar (Neogen, Lansing, MI, USA) at 28 °C for 5 days. The microconidia were subsequently harvested and resuspended in PBS. Candida albicans was grown on Sabouraud dextrose agar (SDA—Neogen, Lansing, MI, USA) at 35 °C for 24 h. Subsequently, 3 colonies were inoculated in Sabouraud Dextrose liquid culture medium (Neogen, Lansing, MI, USA) and incubated at 35 °C and 180 rpm (Infors HT Ecotron, Switzerland) for 24 h. The liquid culture medium containing the C. albicans was centrifuged and the yeasts were resuspended in PBS. The concentration of microconidia and yeast suspension was determined by hemacytometer counts, and diluted with autoclaved PBS to the desired concentrations.

This study included 43 clinical Candida strains obtained from the mycology collection of Selçuk University Faculty of Medicine Hospital between February 2019 and February 2020. In addition, three reference strains were also utilized: C. albicans ATCC 10231, C. krusei ATCC 6258, and C. parapsilosis ATCC 22019. To identify the strains at the species level, two methods were performed: the germ tube test and tests using the VITEK 2 Compact System (Biomérieux, Marcy-l’Étoile, France). Furthermore, the species was identified by multiplex PCR using universal and species-specific primers designed in previous studies [45 (link),46 (link)]. DNA sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) 1 and ITS 2 gene regions was used to confirm inconsistencies between VITEK and multiplex PCR results. The Candida isolates were kept in 15% (v/v) glycerol at −80 °C until they were needed for testing. Before testing, the strains were thawed and subcultured on Sabouraud dextrose agar (Neogen Corporation, Lansing, MI, USA) at a temperature of 35 °C for 48 h to promote growth.