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Anti-Herbivore Properties of Bromelain

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Anti-Herbivore Properties of Bromelain

Name:Personal
Collins, Levi Role :Text(marcrelator)
creator

Name:Personal
Brown, Dr. Greg Role :Text(marcrelator)
contributor

typeOfResource
still image genre
Origin Information Place
Laramie, Wyoming
University of Wyoming (keyDate="yes")
2009-05-13

Language:Text
eng

Physical Description

born digtal

abstract
Bromelain refers to a group of proteolyitc enzymes produced by the pineapple (Ananas comosus) that have the ability to break down, or digest proteins. The concentration of bromelain found in pineapple leaves, stems and fruits is much higher than is needed for primary metabolic functions, thus bromelain can be placed into a distinctive category of plant secondary metabolites. When the function of secondary plant chemistry is unknown, as it is with bromelain, they are generally thought to mediate some interaction between the plant and one or more factors within the environment. We hypothesized that bromelain has anti-herbivore activity, specifically for insects. To test this hypothesis we performed controlled, replicated in vitro experiments where fruit flies, Drosophila melanogaster, were cultured on a food media containing bromelain in known concentrations, including the concentration reported for ripe pineapple fruits. Following standard culture duration, all control and treatment populations were censused for numbers of adults, pupae, larvae, and eggs. Analysis of these data suggests that bromelain has no negative influence on fruit fly reproduction and development, thus not supporting our hypothesis. note
From - Undergraduate Research Day 2009 - Celebration of Research - Abstracts
Subject
Bromelain

Subject
Pineapple (Ananas comosus)

Subject
insect control

Subject
Drosophila melanogaster

Related Item:series Title Information
Undergrauate Research Day 2009

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http://hdl.handle.net/10176/wyu:203

accessCondition:useAndReproduction
http://digital.uwyo.edu/copyright.htm
Record Information languageOfCataloging :Text(ISO639-2B)
English :Code(ISO639-2B)
eng