Antifungal plant proteins, peptides, and methods of use

A method of preventing, controlling, reducing, or inhibiting damage to a plant from a species of fungus selected from the group consisting of an Alternaria sp., an Ascochyta sp., an Aspergillus sp., a Botrytis sp.;

• a Cercospora sp., a Colletotrichum sp., a Diplodia sp., an Erysiphe sp., a Fusariuwi sp., a Gaeumanomyces sp., a Helminthosporium sp., a Macrophomina sp., a Nectria sp., a Peronospora sp., a Phakopsora sp., a Phoma sp., a Phymatotrichum sp., a Phytophthora sp., a Plasmopara sp., a Puccinia sp., a Podosphaera sp., a Pyrenophora sp., a Pyricularia sp., a Pythium sp., a Rhizoctonia sp., a Scerotium sp., a Sclerotinia sp., a Septoria sp., a Thielaviopsis sp., an Uncinula sp., a Venturia sp., and a Verticillium sp., comprising:
• (i) inserting into a genome of a plant cell of a plant susceptible to said damage a DNA construct comprising a promoter that is operably linked to a polynucleotide that encodes an antifungal protein comprising an amino acid sequence having at least 90% sequence identity to the amino acid sequence of residues 30 through 136 of SEQ ID NO:
• 4, wherein the amino acid residues corresponding to the defensin gamma core amino acid sequence of SEP ID NO:51 and to the defensin gamma-core amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:52 within residues 30 through 136 of SEQ ID NO:4 are unmodified, wherein any substitutions of other said amino acid residues of SEQ ID NO:
• 4 amino sequence are conservative amino acid residue substitutions, and wherein the polynucleotide is heterologous to the genome of the plant cell or is both heterologous to the genome of the plant cell and operably linked to a heterologous nucleic acid fragment;
• and
• (ii) obtaining a transgenic plant from the plant cell that expresses said antifungal effective amount of said protein, thereby preventing, controlling, reducing, or inhibiting said damage to said transgenic plant.