The Digestive Processes of Haematophagous Insects: Iv. Secretion of Trypsin by Aedes Aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae)

There is a correlation between the amount of blood ingested by Aedes aegypti (L.) and the trypsin activity (but not the chymotrypsin activity) in the midgut 16 and 24 hr after feeding. Puromycin and Dactinomycin ingested with a blood meal depress the level of midgut trypsin. Trypsin purified from the midguts of A . aegypti fed upon defibrinated blood containing 14 C-amino acids contains radioactivity. Midguts from blood-fed mosquitoes did not produce significant amounts of trypsin when dissected from mosquitoes and maintained in a tissue culture medium for up to 50 hr.