Potential of laticifer fluids for inhibiting Aedes aegypti larval development: evidence for the involvement of proteolytic activity

Effects of plant latex based anti-termite formulations on Indian white termite <i>Odontotermes obesus</i> (Isoptera: Odontotermitidae) in sub-tropical high infestation areas

“…Moreover, cysteine proteases, profilins and chitin-related proteins/chitinases [45] act as catalytic enzymes [46] and provide defense against phytopathogenic fungi and other bacterial infections [47,48]. These are insecticidal in nature and inhibit feeding, egg hatching, larval development and oviposition [49] and play an important role in plant-insect interactions [10]. Due to presence of these allergens [50] and enzymatic proteins [47], plant latex is considered analogous to animal venom and serves as defense material against herbivorous insects [44].…”

“…Furthermore, latex generated deleterious effects in insects may be due to presence of α-amylase inhibitors [53], N-acetyl-β-d-glucosaminase [54], flavonoids [55] and different types of lectins [56]. As it is already reported that laticifer fluids from Calatropis procera contain endogenous soluble proteins which are enzymatic in nature [57] and show proteolytic [49,58] and insecticidal activity [49], these proteins mainly proteases found in different plant latexes [46,59] seem to be associated with insecticidal activity [60,57] and play a defensive role in plants [61] similar to lectin molecules [56]. C. procera latex also contains Kunitz-type trypsin inhibitors [62] which inhibit feeding in caterpillars by disrupting peritrophic matrix [63].…”

Plumeria rubra L. (Apocynaceae): Ethnobotany, Phytochemistry and Pharmacology: A Mini Review

“…The plant has been investigated for antibacterial (Hamburger et al, 1991;Egwaikhide et al, 2007Egwaikhide et al, , 2009Kuigoua et al, 2010;Baghel et al, 2010;Dey et al, 2011), antifungal (Kuigoua et al, 2010;Souza et al, 2011;Gaitan et al, 2011), antimicrobial (Mahady, 2002), antialgal (Kuigoua et al, 2010), larvicidal (Ramos et al, 2009;Patil et al, 2012), molluscicidal (Hamburger et al, 1991), piscicidal (Joshi and Joshi, 2006), nematicidal (Joymati, 2010), antioxidative and free radical scavenging activities (Ruiz-Teran et al, 2008), hypolipidemic (Merina et al, 2010), proteolytic (De Freitas et al, 2010), cytotoxic (Kardono et al, 1990;Hamburger et al, 1991;Rekha and Jayakar, 2011), abortifacient (Dabhadkar and Zade, 2012) and anti HIV (Tan et al, 1991) properties. The biocatalytic activity in terms of lipase activity in hydrolysis and acyl transfer reactions of latex was compared with that of babaco (Vasconcellea x Heilbornii Cv.)…”

“…Latex proteins from the plant were investigated for antifungal property against plant pathogens along with some other latex bearing plants (Souza et al, 2011). Potentiality of laticifer proteins for larvicidal activity against Aedes aegypti was tested (Ramos et al, 2009). Silver nanoparticles synthesized from the plant latex were found to possess larvicidal activity against Aedes aegypti and Anopheles stephensi (Patil et al, 2012).…”

Latex fluids are endowed with insect repellent activity not specifically related to their proteins or volatile substances

“…Laticifer cells perform intense metabolic activity and in addition to the presence of typical Eukaryotic sub-cellular structures they synthesize and accumulate, under pressure, numerous distinct metabolites (Selvaraj et al, 1984;Han et al, 2000;Kalita and Saikia, 2004;Freitas et al, 2007;Farias et al, 2007). Studies performed aiming at understanding the biochemical profile of latex have offered convincing evidence for a defensive role played by these saps (Azarkan et al, 1997;Freitas et al, 2007;Ramos et al, 2009). Latices have been implicated in acute and chronic harmful effects on mammals (AlMezaine et al, 2005;Turillazzi et al, 2008;Albuquerque et al, 2009).…”