Pananotin, a Potent Antifungal Protein from Roots of the Traditional Chinese Medicinal Herb Panax notoginseng

 

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Abstract

The roots of the sanchi ginseng, Panax notoginseng, were extracted with an aqueous buffer. The extract was chromatographed on a CM-cellulose column to remove extraneous unadsorbed proteins. The adsorbed fraction was dialyzed and chromatographed on Affi-gel blue gel. The adsorbed fraction was again collected, dialyzed and applied on a column of Mono S. The second peak was dialyzed and chromatographed on an FPLC-gel filtration Superdex 75 column. An antifungal protein with an N-terminal sequence similar to those of chitinases was isolated from the first peak which had a molecular mass of 35 kDa. The sequence was distinctive in that the third and ninth highly conserved N-terminal residues (C and G) were replaced by H and M, respectively. The protein inhibited mycelial growth in Coprinus comatus, Physalospora piricola, Botrytis cinerea, and Fusarium oxysporum with an IC₅₀ of 100 nM, 1 μM, 630 nM and 560 nM, respectively. It inhibited cell-free translation with an IC₅₀ of 630 nM. Its antifungal and translation-inhibitory activities were more potent than those of previously reported antifungal proteins. It inhibited human immunodeficiency virus-1 reverse transcriptase by 35.8 % at 12.6 μM and 24.7 % at 1.26 μM.

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T. B. Ng

Department of Biochemistry

Faculty of Medicine

The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Shatin, Hong Kong

China

Fax: +852-2603-5123

Phone: +852-2609-6875