Mevinolin: a highly specific inhibitor of microsomal 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase of radish plants.

The fungal metabolite mevinolin, known to be a potent hypocholesterolemic agent, exerts in vitro a strong inhibitory effect on microsomal HMG-CoA reductase from etiolated radish seedlings at a concentration of about three magnitudes lower than the Km towards the natural substrate (S)-HMG-CoA (I50 = 2.5 x 10(-9)M). Beside this, mevinolin significantly inhibits the root elongation of radish as well as of wheat seedlings already at low concentrations of 10 to 100 ppb (= 2.5 x 10(-8) to 2.5 x 10(-7)M).