From the 992 samples of culture extracts of microorganisms isolated from soil in Japan, we found that the extract of
Streptomyces
sp. no. 226 inhibited
Orobanche minor
seed germination without significantly affecting the seed germination of
Trifolium pratense
and the growth of
Aspergillus oryzae
and
Escherichia coli
. Using ESI-MS,
1
H-NMR, and
13
C-NMR, we identified the active compound as cycloheximide. Cycloheximide had half-maximum inhibitory concentrations of 2.6 ng/mL for the inhibition of seed germination of
O. minor
and 2.5 µg/mL for that of the conidial germination of
A
.
oryzae
. Since cycloheximide is known to inhibit translation by interacting with ribosomal protein L28 (RPL28) in yeast, we investigated whether RPL protein of
O. minor
plays a critical role in the inhibition of
O. minor
seed germination. Our data suggested that
O. minor
RPL27A was not sensitive to cycloheximide by comparing it to the strain expressing
S. cerevisiae
RPL28. These findings suggest the presence of an unidentified mechanism by which cycloheximide hinders
O. minor
seed germination.