Proteinase Inhibitors and Resistance of Transgenic Plants to Insects

Proteinaceous inhibitors of proteinases have been explored for a number of years as growth retardants for insects, particularly phytophagous insects, and for other organisms as well. Many proteinase inhibitors are rather small, very stable, abundant proteins and therefore rather easy to purify. It is not surprising, then, that they have been extensively studied for many years to elucidate their structures and functional properties (Bode and Huber, 1992; Laskowski and Kato, 1980; Read and James, 1986).