The quorum sensing commonly exists in procaryote kingdom,regulating various biologic functions.Recently similar phenomenon was also found in fungi world,which affecting both biofilm formation and dimorphism.In this article,we focus on the recent progress on quorum sensing of pathogenic fungi and discuss the possibility of taking quorum sensing molecule as a potential target for antifungl therapy.

Objective To clarify the quorum sensing and identify the quorum sensing molecular of Cryptococcus neoformans. Methods The growth of Cryptococcus neoformans TUP1 △ strain at different inoculum size was observed. The culture filtrate of high cell density TUP1△ strain was collected and plated on medium with low density TUP1△ cell, and the growth of low cell density TUP1△ was recorded. Finally, the active molecule in culture filtrate was purified and identified.Results The growth of Cryptococcus neoformans TUP1△ strain was density dependent and the colony could be normally formed only above a specific density. The filtrate from a high cell density TUP1△culture could promote the growth of low cell density TUP1△, and the active molecule in this culture filtrate was identified to be an oligopeptide composed of 11 amino acids pepride, named quorum sensing peptide 1(QSP1). QSP1 was artificially synthesized, which could also promote the colony forming of TUP1△ strain inoculated at low cell density. Conclusion Quorum sensing exists in Cryptococcus neoformans, and the quorum sensing molecular is QSP1.