Novel thiol protease inhibitor

摘要

A novel thiol protease inhibitor peptide is isolated from Diabrotica virgifera designated virgiferin. The DNA encoding virgiferin and modified virgiferin peptides are claimed. These sequences maybe cloned into vectors and used to transform plants conferring reduced susceptibility to damage by plant pests that have thiol proteases as digestive enzymes including insects and nematodes and particularly Coleopteran insects.