Pneumocystis jirovecii is a fungus which causes severe opportunistic infections in immuno-compromised humans. The brl1 gene of P. carinii infecting rats was identified and characterized using bioinformatics in conjunction with functional complementation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Schizosaccharomyces pombe. The ectopic expression of this gene rescues null alleles of essential nuclear membrane proteins of the Brr6/Brl1 family in both yeasts.