The pentapeptide dolavaline-valine-dolaisoleuine-dolaproine-phenylalanine-methyl ester (auristatin PHE) is a derivative of the anticancer drug dolastatin 10 (dolavaline-valine-dolaisoleuine-dolaproine-dolaphenine). Broth microdilution assays with a wide variety of yeast and filamentous fungal species demonstrated the specificity of auristatin PHE for Cryptococcus neoformans and several species of Trichosporon. The duration of the postantifungal effect (PAFE) for C. neoformans was determined for exposure times ranging from 30 min to 2 h. For the derivative, a PAFE was detectable after 45 min of exposure. The effect plateaued after 1 h of exposure, with a PAFE of approximately 6.5 h at four or eight times the auristatin PHE MIC. In contrast, there was no measurable PAFE after 1 h of exposure to dolastatin 10. Human serum greatly prolonged the PAFE of auristatin PHE at eight times the MIC. Auristatin PHE arrested C. neoformans in the budding stage, possibly due to a tubulin-inhibitory action. Auristatin PHE has potential as a narrow-spectrum fungicidal agent and as a probe that can be used to study cryptococcal cell division.Over the past two decades, the occurrence of life-threatening fungal infections in immunocompromised patients such as cancer patients has drastically increased. Although Aspergillus and Candida spp. represent the most common causes of these infections, an emerging number of other organisms including Cryptococcus neoformans and species of Trichosporon have been implicated (14,30,32). Existing therapies include flucytosine and polyene and azole antifungals such as amphotericin B and fluconazole (28). However, these antifungals are limited by host toxicities (30) and the emergence of drug resistance (3,9,13,33). Thus, the development of new antifungal agents with potent fungicidal activities and new cellular targets is critical.Dolastatin 10 (dolavaline-valine-dolaisoleuine-dolaproinedolaphenine) (19), a unique linear peptide (Fig. 1A), was originally isolated from the Indian Ocean sea hare (Dolabella auricularia) (18). The development of an efficient synthetic route for this peptide (20, 22) facilitated investigation of its remarkable cytostatic and antineoplastic activities (23), as well as the synthesis of numerous antitumor-active structural modifications (21, 22). Dolastatin 10 is undergoing phase I and II cancer clinical trials, and its mammalian tubulin-binding activity has been described in detail (for a review, see reference 24). Briefly, the peptide inhibits mammalian tubulin polymerization and the associated GTP hydrolysis (1) and acts as a noncompetitive inhibitor of vincristine and vinblastine (2).Recently, the antifungal spectrum of dolastatin 10 was reported (27). Against a limited number of yeasts and filamentous fungi, the compound had selective activity against C. neoformans. Included in the previous report (27) was the structural modification dolavaline-valine-dolaisoleuine-dolaproine phenylalanine-methyl ester (auristatin PHE) (25, 26) (Fig. 1B), which, in addition to extremely...