Plant derived α-amylase inhibitors are proteinaceous molecules that regulate the enzyme activity in plants and also protect plants from insect attack. In the current study, 28 accessions of 19 plant species were screened for their α-amylase inhibitory activity. The durum wheat varieties, Beni Suef-1 and Beni Suef-5, showed strong α-amylase inhibitory activity and were subjected to further purification studies using ammonium sulfate fractionation and DEAE-Sephadex G-25 column. The isolated inhibitors were found to be stable at temperatures below 80°C with maximum activity obtained at 40−50°C. Also, they were stable in a wide pH range (2−12). The ion exchange products of purified α-amylase inhibitors from Beni Suef-1 and Beni Suef-5 varieties showed a molecular weight of 16 and 24 kDa, respectively. The purified α-amylase inhibitors were tested against Tribolium castaneum and Callosobruchus maculatus both in vitro and in vivo. There was linear inhibition of α-amylase activity with increasing inhibitor concentration until saturation was reached. Beni Suef-5 α-amylase inhibitor was more potent against α-amylase with lower IC50 values than Beni Suef-1 α-amylase inhibitor except in the case of T. castaneum larva. Kinetics analysis revealed that Beni Suef-1 and Beni Suef-5 α-amylase inhibitors are non-competitive types of inhibitors with high affinity toward α-amylase of T. castaneum and C. maculatus. Results of the in vivo studies demonstrated that α-amylase inhibitors isolated from durum wheat, Beni Suef-1 and Beni Suef-5 varieties, were very effective in inhibiting the development of T. castaneum and C. maculatus and could be used for future studies in developing insect resistant transgenic plants approaching α-amylase inhibitor genes.

At present, many studies have been carried out on the fatigue mechanical properties of conventional rocks, but there are few studies on the mechanical properties of rocks after water rock interaction. The aim is to better study the fatigue mechanical characteristics of sandstone after dry wet cycle and the research object we take was sandstone samples after a certain number of drying and wetting cycles. The WAW-2000 electro-hydraulic servo pressure system was used to carry out uniaxial fatigue cyclic loading and unloading tests with different amplitudes and different upper limit stresses. The test found that: when the sample is damaged under fatigue load, the stress-strain curve shows a sharp downward trend and a sudden instability failure occurred in the sample.With the increase of the upper limit stress and amplitude, the life of the sample decreases gradually which also conforms to the change of power function. Then the relationship between fatigue life and stress is obtained. The fatigue stress-strain curve is characterized by sparse-dense-sparse. With the increase of cycle time, the axial strain of the sample shows an inverted “S” shape. The strain change can be divided into three stages: initial stage, constant velocity stage and acceleration stage.