Similarities in action between streptomycin and hordatine, an antifungal factor in barley

Abstract

Low concentrations of both streptomycin and hordatine inhibit protein synthesis in pea stem segments while affecting RNA synthesis and leucine uptake only slightly or not at all. This inhibition, as well as the antifungal activity of the compounds in a standard spore germination assay, is largely overcome in the presence of various divalent cations, e.g. Ca 2+, Mg 2+, Mn 2+. Studies with related compounds point to the importance, in both systems, of the two guanidine residues for high biological activity.