Dependence of Synergistic Fungicidal Activity of Cu²⁺ and Allicin, an Allyl Sulfur Compound from Garlic, on Selective Accumulation of the Ion in the Plasma Membrane Fraction via Allicin-Mediated Phospholipid Peroxidation

Abstract

Allicin was effective in decreasing the lethal concentration of Cu²⁺ against various fungal strains including a plant pathogen, Fusarium oxysporum, so that the minimum fungicidal concentration (MFC) of the ion for the fungus could be reduced to 2 % of that detected without allicin. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Cu²⁺ was not apparently taken up by cells when added alone at a non-lethal concentration, whereas the ion was efficiently incorporated into cells in the presence of allicin, as in the case of cells treated with the ion at a lethal concentration. Although allicin likely increased cellular permeability to Cu²⁺ due to its promotive effect on plasma membrane phospholipid peroxidation, these cell-surface events did not result in endogenous reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, a typical toxic effect of the ion. Cu²⁺ was detected in the cytoplasmic fraction of cells that had been treated with the ion at a lethal concentration, whereas the ion was entrapped in the plasma membrane fraction upon their treatment with the ion at a low concentration in combination with allicin. Cu²⁺ could be solubilized from the plasma membrane fraction by a procedure for the extraction of hydrophobic proteins rather than the extraction of phospholipids, suggesting its complexation with a plasma membrane protein as a result of allicin treatment. Such a subcellular localization of Cu²⁺ resulted in the selective leakage of intracellular K⁺, but not in the disruptive damage on the plasma membrane, and was considered to underlie the synergistic fungicidal activity of Cu²⁺ and allicin.

Copper - allicin - fungicidal activity - Saccharomyces cerevisiae

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