[Effects of protease inhibitors on the activities of midgut proteases in Callosobruchus chinensis (Linnaeus) larvae.]

MBTI on three kinds of enzyme activities was the strongest, with reduction of 62.5%, 41.2% and 38.7%, respectively. Ovomucoid inhibitor (OI) had the lowest inhibitory effect. The activities of three enzymes in the midgut were also inhibited by C. chinensis larvae fed with artificial mung bean containing different inhibitors. The activities of three enzymes increased with the prolongation of the instar after feeding, but they were significantly lower than that in control. The inhibitory effect of MBTI was the strongest. The inhibitory effect on the activities of total protease and trypsin-like enzyme was gradually enhanced with the increases of MBTI contents when C. chinensis larvae were fed with artificial mung bean with different contents MBTI. The inhibitory effect on chymotrypsin-like enzyme activity was not significant. When the content of MBTI was up to 20%, the activity of chymotrypsin-like enzyme was obviously inhibited.