In the present review, the authors summarize the data from many specialty papers that report various macromolecules essential for the survival, growth and virulence of fungi, macromolecules which may become potential targets for the development of new antifungal agents. The main targets for antifungal agents are various components of fungal wall and cellular membrane (chitin, sterols, ergosterol and their biosynthesis processes), cellular organelles and some cytoplasmic and nuclear macromolecules. New antifungal agents are developed to action at various sub cellular levels and will become of therapeutic interest after they will overpass the clinical tests, such as triazolic compounds (posaconazole, ravuconazole and voriconazole) and echinocandins (anidulafungin, caspofungin and micafungin). The rhytm of development of new antifungal drugs is very slow especially because the clinical tests are long and clinical requirements are changing considerably faster.
The development of fungal genomics led to the sequencing of many pathogene fungi, such as: Candida albicans, Aspergillus fumigatus, Cryptococcus neoformans and Saccharomyces cerevisiae and provided to scientists the knowledge of candidate genes that code for new possible antifungal targets. In conclusion, we can predict two main future directions for the research of antifungal agents: finding more selective mechanisms of action and using the fungal genomics information to validate new targets for the development of new drugs.