Fig. 2

TPP⁺ targets PEPSs to the mitochondria of C. albicans cells. a The chemical structures of representative TPP⁺-conjugates and their parent compounds. b The intracellular contents of TPP⁺-conjugates and their parent compounds in the treated C. albicans cells were measured using HPLC. The detection threshold using HPLC was 0.1 μg for DBC and 0.4 μg for the other three parent compounds that was indicated by a red line. The HPLC analysis results demonstrated that these TPP⁺-conjugates accumulated in C. albicans cells, whereas their parent compounds were not transported into cells. Data are shown as means ± s.e.m. from three independent experiments. ***P < 0.001 for TPP⁺-conjugates versus their parent compounds by Student’s t-test. c Fluorescence microscopy revealed that Ds-TPP accumulated in C. albicans cells cultured in RPMI1640 medium, whereas its parent compound dansyl chloride did not. Scale bar, 100 μm. d The accumulation of the representative tested compounds in C. albicans mitochondria. The contents of the tested compounds in the mitochondria and other intracellular components were determined by LC–MS/MS, and the ratio of the tested compounds in the mitochondria was calculated. Data are shown as means ± s.e.m. from three independent experiments