Alkaline protease in the larvae of the army worm, Spodoptera litura

Abstract

The alkaline protease activity in the gut of Spodoptera litura was found to increase with the development of larvae and decreased with the onset of pupation. Fasting of the 5th instar larvae caused a slight increase in protease activity at 4 hr, which declined consistently on further starvation. The optimum pH for the gut protease was 11.0, with a shoulder between pH 8.0 and 9.0. The protease was inactivated upon dialysis of the crude enzyme solution at room temperature but not at 4°C. Incubation of the crude enzyme solution at pH 11.0 and 37°C for 22 hr resulted in a three-fold rise in specific activity of the alkaline protease which declined on further incubation. The three-fold purified preparation, obtained by incubation of the crude enzyme solution, was passed through Sephadex G-75 to give a seven-fold purification and 70% yield. The preparation was not completely homogeneous and showed three clearly separable protein bands by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The partially purified protease exhibited no shoulder between pH 8 to 9, like the crude preparation.