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United States of America, As Represented by the Secretary of Agriculture

Anthony J De Lucca

Claude P Selitrennikoff

Stephen M Boue

Craig B Vigo

John M Bland

CAY-1 is a fungicidal saponin from the cayenne pepper () fruit. The saponins 1081 and 919, closely elute with, and are close structural relatives of, CAY-1. Saponin 1081 is poorly antifungal while 919 has no antifungal properties. Nongerminated and germinating conidia of, andwere tested against pure CAY-1 and CAY-1:1081:919 at ratios of 8:1:1, 6:2:2 and 4:3:3 and efficacy was determined after various incubation times. Pure CAY-1 and all saponin mixtures were significantly (p&#x3c;0.001) lethal to the germinating conidia of, and. All saponin mixtures were equal or superior to pure CAY-1 in antifungal properties. Mixtures of the naturally occurring inactive or poorly fungicidal saponins with reduced levels of CAY-1 display superior fungicidal properties when compared to pure CAY-1 at the same dose levels.

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A novel antifungal compound, &ldquo;CAY-1&rdquo;, was isolated from the dried fruit of,(cayenne pepper), purified to homogeneity, and characterized as a novel sterol glycoside (a saponin) with a molecular mass of 1243.35 Da. CAY-1 demonstrates antifungal activity against a large variety of fungal organisms associated with diseases in plants, animals and humans including, but not limited to,,and,, but has minimal toxic effects on mammalian cells.

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Metairie, LA, United States of America

Anthony J De Lucca