An antifungal protein with a chitinase-like N-terminal sequence, designated delandin, was isolated from the rice bean. The protein exhibited a molecular weight of 28 kDa and was adsorbed on both blue Affi-Gel and SP-Toyopearl. It exerted antifungal action toward Mycosphaerella arachidicola, Botrytis cinerea Fusarium oxysporum, Rhizoctonia solani, and Colletotrichum gossypii and inhibited the activity of human immunodeficiency virus 1 reverse transcriptase. The protein inhibited translation in rabbit reticulocyte lysate with a low potency. It elicited a mitogenic response from mouse splenocytes. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science (USA).