The present invention provides a transformed cell in which a
polynucleotide having a nucleotide sequence encoding an amino acid
sequence of an osmosensing histidine kinase having no transmembrane
region is introduced in a functional form into a cell deficient in at
least one hybrid-sensor kinase, a method of assaying the antifungal
activity of a test substance using the transformed cell, and a method of
searching an antifungal compound using the method, and the like.