PURIFICATION AND PARTIAL CHARACTERIZATION OF A GUT TRYPSIN-LIKE PROTEASE FROM LARVAE OF FLESH FLY BOETTCHERISCA PEREGRIN A (DIPTERA: SARCOPHAGAE)

Abstract A 16kD protease was purified from the gut extract of larvae of Boettcherisca peregrina , after ammonium sulfate precipitation, DEAE-Sephadex A-25 ion-exchange chromatography and SBBI-Sepharose 4B affinity chromatography. The results of substrate and inhibitor specificity indicated that the protease behaved as a trypsin-like protease. It possesses high activity against non-specific substrate casein and Hide powder azure, and against trypsin-specific substrates Bz-Phe-Val-Arg NA, Bz-Pro-Phe-Arg NA and Bz-Val-Gly-Arg NA. It can be strongly inhibited by PMSF, phenymethysulfonyl fluoride (serine protease inhibitor), SBBI, soybean Bowman-Birk inhibitor and Leupeptin (trypsin-specific inhibitor). Activity of this protease was found to be maximal at the alkaline range of pH 8. 5–9. 5.