Inhibition of HIV-1 Reverse Transcriptase Activity by Brasenia schreberi (Junsai) Components

We screened for inhibitory activities of 25 wild vegetables and fruits for human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) reverse transcriptase (RT). Among them, ethanol- and water-extracts of Brasenia schreberi (Junsai) and water-extract of Petasites japonicus (Fuki) strongly inhibited the HIV-1 RT activity to incorporate dTTP into poly(rA)-p(dT)15. We tested HIV-1 RT inhibitory activities of 15 polyphenols, isolated from Brasenia schreberi. Among them, gossypetin and hypolaetin 7-O-glucoside inhibited the activity.