Isolation of vulgin, a new antifungal polypeptide with mitogenic activity from the pinto bean.

An antifungal polypeptide bearing an N-termnial sequence with some homology to chitinases was purified from an extract of pinto beans. The polypeptide, designated vulgin, exerted antifungal activity toward Mycosphaerella arachidicola, Coprinus cornatus, Fusarium oxysporum and Botrytis cinerea. Vulgin inhibited translation in a rabbit reticulocyte lysate system with an IC50 of 4.3 microM and HIV-1 reverse transcriptase activity with an IC50 of 58 microM. Vulgin stimulated in vitro incorporation of methyl [3H] thymidine into mouse splenocytes.