The N-acylsaccharins and N-acylbenzoisothiazolinones form a new class of acylating inhibitors of the serine proteases with a broad spectrum of activity. However, they are unique in that they are able to differentiate between various serine proteases because of the differential stability of the presumptive acylenzyme formed. Furoyl saccharin was the best studied among this class of inhibitors. W...

Translocon: don't pass me by ranslocon proteins are intimately involved with the proteins they import into the ER—including transmembrane portions of the incoming proteins, based on results from Import of membrane proteins into the ER requires a joint effort between the T ribosome and the translocon to ensure that each domain of the translocating protein is targeted correctly to either the lume...

Epithelial permeability to ions and larger molecules in the gut is essential for fluid balance, and its dysregulation contributes to intestinal pathology. We investigated the effect of digestive serine proteases on epithelial paracellular permeability. Trypsin, chymotrypsin, and elastase elicited sustained increases in transepithelial resistance (R(TE)) in polarized monolayers of three intestin...

Dipeptidyl peptidase I (DPPI) is a lysosomal cysteine protease critical for the activation of granule-associated serine proteases, including neutrophil elastase, cathepsin G, and proteinase 3. DPPI and granule-associated serine proteases have been shown to play a key role in regulating neutrophil recruitment at sites of inflammation. It has recently been suggested that neutrophils and neutrophi...

Serine proteases are involved in a variety of biological processes and are classified into clans sharing structural homology. Although various three-dimensional structures of SC clan proteases have been experimentally determined, they are mostly bacterial and animal proteases, with some from archaea, plants, and fungi, and as yet no structures have been determined for protozoa. To bridge this g...

Bacterial signal peptidase I is responsible for proteolytic processing of the precursors of secreted proteins. The enzymes from gram-negative and -positive bacteria are different in structure and specificity. In this study, we have cloned, expressed, and purified the signal peptidase I of gram-positive Streptococcus pneumoniae. The precursor of streptokinase, an extracellular protein produced i...

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...

A metalloprotease (MEP) secreted by Aspergillus fumigatus was isolated from an alkaline protease-deficient mutant after the fungus was cultivated in the presence of collagen as the sole nitrogen and carbon source. The enzyme was purified 50-fold from the culture supernatant after adsorption to hydroxylapatite and carboxy-methyl-Sephadex and after gel filtration. The molecular mass was determine...

The gene (aprI) encoding alkaline serine protease (AprI; subtilase) from Alteromonas sp. strain O-7 was cloned and sequenced. The nucleotide sequence of aprI has been identified. The deduced amino acid sequence indicated that aprI 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 region ...