Amylase Activity In Black-Flies And Mosquitoes (Diptera)
- 25 February 1968
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in Journal of Medical Entomology
- Vol. 5 (1) , 9-13
- https://doi.org/10.1093/jmedent/5.1.9
Abstract
The highest activity of an amylase-like enzyme was demonstrated in the residual fluid (mainly hemolymph) of unfed ♀♀ of Simulium venustum, S. vittatum, Culex p. pipiens and Aedes aegypti, in comparison with that of the midgut and carcass. Of the flies tested, S. venustum ♀♀ had the highest amylase-like activity. In this species the enzyme activity in ♂♂ was about half that of ♀♀. The optimum pH for the action of this enzyme from S. venustum ♂♂ or ♀♀ was determined as pH 6.5 at 37°C. The great increase of amylase-like activity immediately after a blood meal in A. aegypti was shown to result from the enzyme activity in the host's blood, and not from that of midgut secretion. This is probably true of S. venustum as well.This publication has 1 reference indexed in Scilit:
- A PHOTOMETRIC METHOD FOR THE DETERMINATION OF α-AMYLASE IN BLOOD AND URINE, WITH USE OF THE STARCH-IODINE COLORJournal of Biological Chemistry, 1949