cDNA homologues of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae UBC4 and UBC5 genes, encoding putative ubiquitin conjugating enzymes, were isolated and characterized from the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe and from the pathogenic dimorphic yeast Candida albicans. The Sz. pombe and C. albicans deduced amino-acid sequences are 82.3 and 90.5% similar to the Sa. cerevisiae UBC4 gene product, respectively.