Eryngin, a novel antifungal peptide from fruiting bodies of the edible mushroom Pleurotus eryngii.

An antifungal peptide with a molecular mass of 10k Da was isolated from fruiting bodies of the mushroom Pleurotus eryngii. The peptide, designated as eryngin, inhibited mycelial growth in Fusarium oxysporum and Mycosphaerella arachidicola. It was unadsorbed on DEAE-cellulose and adsorbed on Affi-gel blue gel and S-Sepharose. Its N-terminal sequence demonstrated some similarity to the antifungal protein from the mushroom Lyophyllum shimeiji and little resemblance to thaumatin and thaumatin-like proteins.