Fig. 3

CF-mimicking environment modulates growth and filamentation patterns of clinical isolates of C. albicans from CF patients.

a Growth of CF isolates (n = 6) and the SC5314 reference strain in SCFM2 and RPMI media under the three CF-relevant gas conditions. Data are presented as mean ± standard deviation from three independent experiments performed in duplicate or triplicate for each isolate. b Changes in the growth rate of clinical CF isolates in SCFM2 medium depending on the environmental gas composition. Each dot represents the mean growth value of an individual isolate, derived from two independent experiments, performed in triplicate. c Growth comparison of the clinical CF isolates under 21% O₂, 5% CO₂ and hypoxic conditions in SCFM2 versus RPMI. Each dot corresponds to the growth value of an individual isolate (six values per isolate). d Filamentation phenotype (length of filaments and aggregation pattern) of CF isolates influenced by both gas and nutritional conditions. e Colour-coded heatmap presenting hierarchical clustering of C. albicans isolates based on their filamentation phenotypes under various gas and nutritive conditions. Clustering was performed using Ward’s linkage method with Euclidean distance, showing distinct filamentation profiles in SCFM2 versus RPMI medium.