Effects of Some Alpha-Amylase Inhibitors on the Salivary Alpha-Amylase Activity of the Stripped Bug, Graphosoma lineatum (Heteroptera: Scutelleridae)

Digestive enzyme inhibitors are proteinacious or nonproteinacious compounds which reduce an enzyme activity through attaching to its active site and/or its substrate. Nowadays, plant enzyme inhibitors are of great importance because 1) these have considerable effects on insect digestive enzymes and as a result on their development; and 2) the transgenic plants expressing them are safe. In this study, the effects of NaCl, ethylenediamine tetraacetate disodium dehydrate (EDTA), Tris, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and an alpha-amylase inhibitor derived from wheat kernels (WAAI) on alpha-amylase activity of adults of the stripped bug Graphosoma lineatum (L.) during 60 minutes incubation was studied. Distilled water was considered as the control. The results showed that the effects of the inhibitor type on adult alpha-amylase activity was significant (P