Specific inhibition of insect alpha-amylases: yellow meal worm alpha-amylase in complex with the amaranth alpha-amylase inhibitor at 2.0 A resolution.
Pereira, P.J., Lozanov, V., Patthy, A., Huber, R., Bode, W., Pongor, S., Strobl, S.(1999) Structure 7: 1079-1088
- PubMed: 10508777 
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/s0969-2126(99)80175-0
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:  
1CLV - PubMed Abstract: 
alpha-Amylases constitute a family of enzymes that catalyze the hydrolysis of alpha-D-(1,4)-glucan linkages in starch and related polysaccharides. The Amaranth alpha-amylase inhibitor (AAI) specifically inhibits alpha-amylases from insects, but not from mammalian sources. AAI is the smallest proteinaceous alpha-amylase inhibitor described so far and has no known homologs in the sequence databases. Its mode of inhibition of alpha-amylases was unknown until now.
Organizational Affiliation: 
Max-Planck-Institut für Biochemie Am Klopferspitz 18a, 82152, Planegg, Germany.