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AssigneeNovartis Finance Corporation
InventorsWalden K. Roberts, Claude P. Selitrennikoff, Bridget E. Laue, Sharon L. Potter
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Novel plant proteins (SAFPs) which synergize the activity of antifungal antibiotics are identified. SAFPs are demonstrated to synergize antifungal antibiotics, such as nikkomycins, polyoxins and amphotericins. SAFPs alone also display antifungal activity against several species of fungi, including strains of Candida, Trichoderma, Neurospora and strains of the plant pathogens Fusarium, Rhizoctonia and Chaetomium. Synergistic antifungal compositions containing SAFP and antifungal antibiotics are provided. In particular, synergistic compositions of corn-SAFP (zeamatin), sorghum-SAFP (sormatin) or oat-SAFP (avematin) and nikkomycin are found to be effective as antifungal compositions, especially against the opportunistic human pathogen Candida albicans. Method for employing SAFPs and synergistic compositions containing them for the inhibition of fungi are provided. In addition, a method for purifying SAFP from grain meal is provided.
A method of inhibiting the growth of a fungus which comprises applying to said fungus or a habitat of said fungus zeamatin in substantially pure form in an antifungally effective amount or an amount sufficient to enhance the antifungal activity of an antifungal antibiotic selected from the group of antifungal antibiotics which comprises nikkomycins, polyoxins and amphotericins, wherein said zeamatin is a protein isolatable from corn, having a molecular weight of about 22 kD under reducing conditions upon SDS-PAGE, and having the N-terminal amino acid sequence A V F V V N Q C P F T V W A A S V P V G G G R Q L R G E.
A method of inhibiting the growth of a fungus which comprises applying to said fungus or a habitat of said fungus sormatin in substantially pure form in an antifungally effective amount or an amount sufficient to enhance the antifungal activity of an antifungal antibiotic selected from the group of antifungal antibiotics which comprises nikkomycins, polyoxins and amphotericins, wherein said sormatin is a protein isolatable from sorghum, having a molecular weight of about 25 kD under reducing conditions upon SDS-PAGE, and having the N-terminal amino acid sequence A V F T V V N R C P Y T V W A A S V P V G G.
A method of inhibiting the growth of a fungus which comprises applying to said fungus or a habitat of said fungus avematin in partially purified form in an antifungally effective amount or an amount sufficient to enhance the antifungal activity of an antifungal antibiotic selected from the group of antifungal antibiotics which comprises nikkomycins, polyoxins and amphotericins, wherein said avematin is a protein isolatable from oat and having a molecular weight of about 22 kD under reducing conditions upon SDS-PAGE.
A method of inhibiting the growth of a fungus which comprises applying to said fungus or a habitat of said fungus an antifungal composition which comprises an antifungal antibiotic and an antifungal protein, said antifungal antibiotic and said antifungal protein being present in concentrations sufficient to inhibit the growth of said fungus, said antifungal protein being a protein selected from
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