Fungistatic activity of lucerne saponins and digitonin as related to sterols

Y. Assa*, B. Gestetner, I. Chet, Y. Henis

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

18 Scopus citations

Abstract

The relationship between the growth inhibiting activity of saponins and the presence of sterols in fungi was studied. Spraying of mycelia with lucerne saponins or digitonin resulted in swift lysis of the hyphal tips of those fungi, which contain cholesterol in their cell membrane. The fungistatic activity of the saponins was found to be closely related to the relative amount of cholesterol in the found. Incorporation of exogenous cholesterol did not change the sensitivity of Pythium sp. PRL 2142 to lucerne saponins or digitonin. Similar experiments with M.laidlawii changed this organism from a tolerant to a highly sensitive one to digitonin but not to lucerne saponins, indicating that the growth inhibiting activity of saponins depends not only on the presence but also on the orientation of cholesterol in the cell membrane.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)637-647
Number of pages11
JournalLife Sciences
Volume11
Issue number13 PART 2
DOIs
StatePublished - 8 Jul 1972

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Fungistatic activity of lucerne saponins and digitonin as related to sterols'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this