The complete amino acid sequence of human salivary statherin, a peptide which strongly inhibits precipitation from supersaturated calcium phosphate solutions, and therefore stabilizes supersaturated saliva, has been determined. The NH2-terminal half of this Mr=5380 (43 amino acids) polypeptide was determined by automated Edman degradations (liquid phase) on native statherin. The peptide was dig...

Fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21), a hormone implicated in the regulation of glucose homoeostasis, insulin sensitivity, lipid metabolism and body weight, is considered to be a promising therapeutic target for the treatment of metabolic disorders. Despite observations that FGF21 is rapidly proteolysed in circulation rending it potentially inactive, little is known regarding mechanisms by which...

In vivo, many proteases are synthesized as larger precursors. During the maturation process, the catalytically active protease domain is released from the larger polypeptide or pro-enzyme by one or more proteolytic processing steps. In several well studied cases, amino-terminal pro regions have been shown to play a fundamental role in the folding of the associated protease domains. The mechanis...

japan, known as a pro-choice country in terms of abortion, is currently facing the increase of “selective abortions” thanks to new prenatal screening. efforts to restrict proliferation of new technology has not been successful and it is likely that japan will turn pro-life by strictly enforcing the maternity protection act (mpa), which prohibits abortions due to “fetal cause”.

Intramembrane proteases (IPs) cleave membrane-associated substrates in nearly all organisms and regulate diverse processes. A better understanding of how these enzymes interact with their substrates is necessary for rational design of IP modulators. We show that interaction of Bacillus subtilis IP SpoIVFB with its substrate Pro-σK depends on particular residues in the interdomain linker of SpoI...

Viruses of the order Nidovirales encode huge replicase polyproteins. These are processed primarily by the chymotrypsin-like main proteinases (M(pro)s). So far, M(pro)s have been studied only for corona-, arteri-, and roniviruses. Here, we report the characterization of the M(pro) of toroviruses, the fourth main Nidovirus branch. Comparative sequence analysis of polyprotein 1a of equine toroviru...

The gene (trprl) encoding alkaline serine protease (Aprl; subtilase) from Atteremonas sp. strain O-7 was cloned and sequenced. The nucleotide sequence of tu7rl has been identified. The deduced arnino acid sequence indicated that uprl codes for a precursor of 715 amino acids and the precursor is composed of four regions including a signal peptide, an N-terminal pro-region, a mature protease regi...

conclusions the hormonal levels were low in patients with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy. however, the prognostic significance of different hormonal deficiencies was not clear in our study populations who were receiving standard therapies for heart failure and had a relatively stable clinical condition. results except for testosterone level, the levels of gh, igf-1, t3, and t4 concentrations...

The NH(2)-terminal amino acid sequences of the alpha and beta chains of avian myeloblastosis alphabeta DNA polymerase were determined by using microsequence analysis in the subnanomole range and were found to be identical up to 17 residues. The common sequence was as follows: Thr-Val-Ala-Leu-His-Leu-Ala-Ile-Pro-Leu-Lys-Trp-Lys-Pro-Asn-His-Thr-. This result provides convincing chemical evidence ...

The amino acid sequences at the N-terminal ends of the chains of the lens protein, a-crystallin, were studied. Both the main kinds of chain in bovine ix-crystallin (A chains and B chains) have an N-terininal methionine residue, and the amino group is acetylated. Selective purification of the peptides in a tryptic digest of bovirne a-crystallin gave a preparation consisting largely of the N-term...