Abstract:Objective: To investigate the difference of proteome between yeast form and mould form of Penicillium marneffei,and to investigate the association of specific proteins expressed with biochemical properties, susceptibility of antifungal agent with dimorphic growth. Methods: Biochemisay identity plates were used to test the assimilation of carbohydrates and E-test strips were used to detect the minimum inhibitory concentration (M IC) of mould form and yeast form 16 P. marneffei. Surface enhanced laser desorption/ionization (SELDI) mass spectrometry with ProteinChip WCX2 was performed to compare the expressed proteins in yeast form and mould form.Protein profiles were read by PBSⅡ proteinchip reader and the proteome database was analyzed by proteinchip software 3.2.0. Results:Mould form assimilated lactose, melibiose significantly stronger ( P < 0.01 ), while yeast form assimilated sorbinose significantly stronger (P< 0.05). The mean MIC of fluconazole against mould form increased significantly ( P < 0.01 ) compared with yeast form. Seventy-five distinct proteins were found in yeast form and mould form of P. marneffei, in which proteins of 2900Da and 3151Da were specifically expressed in yeast form and other two proteins of 13151Da and 13285Da were specifically expressed in mould form ( P < 0.01 ).Conclusion: The assimilation of carbohydrates and drug susceptibility of P. marneffei may change partly due to the morphogenetic conversion and different temperature. Specific proteins may be involved in the regulation, the change of biochemical reaction and drug susceptibility during dimorphic growth.