Effect of chemicals on fungal alpha-amylase activity

The effect of 8 growth regulators at concentrations of 1,000, 5,000 and 10,000 ppm on the activity of fungal (Aspergillus flavus var. columnaris) alpha-amylase was studied. Indol acetic acid (IAA) and naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) inhibited alpha-amylase activity by 2% and 7% at 1,000 ppm. The other 6 growth regulators, indol butyric acid (IBA), gibberellic acid, cumarin, cycocel (CCC), atonik-G and kylar, did not inhibit but stimulated alpha-amylase activity (0 to 9%) at 1,000 ppm. All growth regulators studied inhibited alpha-amylase activity at 5,000 and 10,000 ppm concentration except kylar. The effect of organic acids and formaldehyde at 0.01, 0.005, and 0.001 M was studied. Acetic acid stimulated alpha-amylase at all concentrations, but formic acid, oxalic acid, lactic acid and citric acid inhibited alpha-amylase activity by 91, 100, 100 and 79%, respectively, at a concentration of 0.01 M, while by 31, 100, 15 and 20%, respectively, at 0.005 M. Formaldehyde induced 7, 3 and 2% inhibition at 0.01, 0.005 and 0.001 M, respectively. At 0.01 M either sorbitol or fructose inhibited alpha-amylase by 8%, Maltose 7%, sucrose 6%, phenol, glucose and galactose each by 5%, ethanol, glycerol, arabinose and sodium benzoate each by 4%, isopropanol and mannitol 1%, but methanol and ammonium citrate dibasic did not inhibit alpha-amylase. The results indicate that CuCl2, SnCl2, AgNO3 and Fe2(SO4)3 were the strongest inhibitors, followed by Cd(C2H3O2), HgCl2, Na2-EDTA, Na2HPO4, and CaCl2 in decreasing order. NaCl, NaBr and Mn SO4 did not inhibit alpha-amylase at concentrations from 10 mM to 0.01 mM.