Rapamycin (Rm) and FK506 are macrolide antifungal agents that exhibit potent immunosuppressive properties in higher eukaryotes which are mediated through interaction with specific receptor proteins (FKBPs or RBPs, for FK506- and Rm-binding proteins, respectively). These proteins possess peptidyl-prolyl cis-trans isomerase (PPIase) activity in vitro which is inhibited by the binding of Rm and FK506. We previously isolated a gene encoding an RBP from Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and demonstrated that null mutations in this gene (called RBP1) result in a recessive Rm-resistant (RmR) phenotype. We now have cloned the Candida albicans RBP1 gene via complementation of the RmR phenotype in S. cerevisiae. The predicted C. albicans RBP exhibits 61%, 52% and 49% amino acid (aa) sequence identity with RBPs (FKBPs) from S. cerevisiae, Neurospora crassa and human cells (FKBP-12), respectively. Furthermore, several of the aa residues identified as being important for drug binding in human FKBP-12 are conserved within the C. albicans RBP.