Kinetic Characterization of Anticarsia gemmatalis Digestive Serine- Proteases and the Inhibitory Effect of Synthetic Peptides.

Background: Enzyme kinetics contributes to understanding the structure and function of insect digestive serine proteases. Kinetic parameters allow to understanding active sites and mechanisms of enzymes efficacy, identifying the inhibition of the insects digestive protease system by inhibitors produced by plants, or via the application of synthetic inhibitors Objectives: The aim of this study was to purify digestive serine proteases of A. gemmatalis, determining their kinetic properties using the chromogenic substrates tripeptidyl and characterizing the effects of synthetic inhibitors on their activity.