In Vitro Effect of Bean Amylase Inhibitor on Insect Amylases 1.
The activity of a bean amylase inhibitor against amylases extracted from several insects was tested. Amylases extracted from Mediterranean flour moth larvae ( Anagasta kuhniella ), red flour beetle adults ( Tribolium castaneum ), both adults and larvae of Tribolium confusum (confused flour beetle) and yellow mealworm larvae ( Tenebrio molitor ) were inhibited while adult granary weevil ( Sitophilus granarius ) amylase was not inhibited by the bean inhibitor. The T. molitor amylase interaction with the bean inhibitor was studied further. Inhibition of the Tenebrio enzyme is expressed slowly at pH 5.4, but lowering the pH or raising the ionic strength of incubation media caused a marked increase in rate of expression of the inhibition.