The object of the present invention is to screen and identify a novel
antimicrobial protein which can inhibit the growth of plant pathogenic
microorganisms at a relatively low concentration such as Pyricularia
oryzae and Rhizoctonia solani causative of two major diseases causing
damage to rice crops and, further, to clone the gene of this protein.
According to the present invention, an antimicrobial protein which can be
obtained from a fraction of an aqueous extract of Lyophyllum shimeji
precipitated by the ammonium sulfate precipitation method, has an
antimicrobial activity at least against Rhizoctonia solani or Pyricularia
oryzae, and shows the presence of components of about 70 kDa and/or about
65 kDa in molecular weight in the SDS-PAGE method. A gene encoding this
protein and a method of using the same are provided.