Summary
Myrothecium verrucaria produced a high activity of extracellular insect cuticle degrading enzymes, chitinases, proteinases and lipases. Both first (I) instar and fourth (IV) instar larvae of a mosquito, Aedes aegypti, a vector of yellow fever and dengue, were susceptible to crude culture filtrate (100% mortality within 48 h at 170 mg/l) . The supplementation of purified M. verrucaria endo-chitinase with commercial lipase decreased the lethal time (LT50) from 48 h to 24 h for I instar and 120 h to 96 h for IV instar. Our results of the larvicidal activity indicate that the cuticle degrading enzyme complex of M. verrucaria has a good potential for the control of mosquitoes.
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Mendonsa, E.S., Vartak, P.H., Rao, J.U. et al. An enzyme from Myrothecium verrucaria that degrades insect cuticles for biocontrol of Aedes aegypti mosquito. Biotechnol Lett 18, 373–376 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00143454
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00143454