The serine protease inhibitors and plant-insect interaction

Abstract

Plants respond to a physical injury or biological attack by producing, among other compounds, an arsenal of defense proteins, secondary metabolites and phytohormones, all necessary for plant survival. Defense proteins include the group of serine protease inhibitors (SPI), proteins that interact with the active site of their target enzymes. The activity of these protease inhibitors has been exploited to combat insect pests. SPI is an interesting alternative to produce plants with improved resistance characters through selection in the field or expressing their genes in sensitive plants by genetic engineering. The alternative that these natural products offer makes them valuable for the control of several crop pests.Key words: biological control, defense proteins, serine protease inhibitors. RESUMEN

Purification, characterization, and bioassay of putative protease inhibitors from Hevea brasiliensis latex

“…Taken together, these results concluded that protease inhibitors extracted from B-serum latex were characterized as serine and/or cysteine-type protease inhibitors. In accordance with the literature, serine and cysteine protease inhibitors are two types found in large quantities in the cells (Habib & Fazili, 2007;Mendoza-Blanco & Casaretto, 2012;Popovic et al, 2013). Both of these PI are part of cell homeostasis playing a role in plant defense against pathogens (Hartl et al, 2011, Kim et al, 2009.…”

Neutrophil elastase inhibitor purification strategy from cowpea seeds

“…Genes encoding Kunitz type inhibitors from legumes has been used to transform transgenic crop varieties in order to develop resistance to insects [62]. There are many studies that seek the relationship between the inhibitors of serine proteases present in plants and the coevolution with microorganisms, insects, nematodes, birds and mammals that may be related to the defense mechanisms of plants and the ability of these organisms to adapt to these mechanisms [63, 64].…”