[CH] Peppers Put the "Heat" on Pests (fwd)
Ed Kochanowski (egk@egk.com)
Thu, 15 Mar 2001 09:24:58 -0800 (PST)
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STORY LEAD:
Peppers Put the "Heat" on Pests
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ARS News Service
Agricultural Research Service, USDA
March 15, 2001
Jan Suszkiw, (301) 504-1630, jsuszkiw@ars.usda.gov
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Cayenne pepper, a popular spice for flavoring food, is known for its
heat-producing properties from the substance capsaicin. Agricultural
Research Service scientists also have found that cayenne peppers contain
another potent substance in the saponin chemical family that kills several
noxious fungi and yeasts.
And because this pepper saponin, called CAY-1, is not toxic to human cells
at microbial-killing doses, MycoLogics, Inc., a Denver, Colorado, firm, has
begun testing its potential as a candidate drug for treating patients with
fungal infections. MycoLogics is doing so under an agreement with ARS's
Southern Regional Research Center in New Orleans, La., according to Anthony
DeLucca, a microbiologist there.
He and chemists John Bland and Craig Vigo discovered CAY-1 during research
to identify plant compounds that could be used as crop protectants against
spoilage microorganisms such as Aspergillus fungi, which make aflatoxins.
Cayenne peppers topped an unusual list of organisms--including Cecropia
moths, tree frogs, and bacteria--that produce other novel antifungal
compounds.
Though CAY-1 proved active against Aspergillus and other important microbial
crop pests, DeLucca speculated its properties might also interest medical
researchers seeking candidate drug compounds to fight emerging fungal
threats to human health. That curiosity led to collaborative studies with
National Institutes of Health scientist Tom Walsh, University of Cincinnati
researcher Melanine Cushion, and MycoLogic president Claude Seltrennikoff.
In a paper undergoing peer review, they report results from bioassay studies
in which germinating and non-germinating cultures of four bacterial, six
fungal and one yeast species were exposed to different CAY-1 concentrations.
For example, in one test against Candida albicans, which causes thrush and
other human infections, a 2.6 microgram-per-milliliter dose curbed the
microbe's growth by 93 percent. Additionally, none of the antimicrobial
concentrations used caused harm to human cervix cell cultures. CAY-1 also
wasn't toxic to cells from lung tissue, where Aspergillus and Pneumocystis
carinii fungi can cause serious infections in immuno-compromised patients.
ARS, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientific research agency,
has filed a patent on CAY-1.
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Scientific contact: Tony J. De Lucca, ARS Southern Regional Research Center,
New Orleans, La., phone (504) 286-4253, fax (504) 286-4419,
adelucca@commserver.srrc.usda.gov.
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