In recent decades, several canonical serine protease inhibitor families have been classified and characterized. In contrast to most trypsin inhibitors, those from garden four o'clock (Mirabilis jalapa) and spinach (Spinacia oleracea) do not share sequence similarity and have been proposed to form the new Mirabilis serine protease inhibitor family. These 30-40-amino-acid inhibitors possess a def...

The crystal structure of fiddler crab collagenase complexed with the dimeric serine protease inhibitor ecotin at 2.5 A resolution reveals an extended cleft providing binding sites for at least 11 contiguous substrate residues. Comparison of the positions of nine intermolecular main chain hydrogen bonding interactions in the cleft, with the known sequences at the cleavage site of type I collagen...

Diisopropylfiuorophosphate {OFP), a general serine protease inhibitor, inhibited the DNA fragme"tatioll and cell death in MDCK cells treated with ricin, modeccin, Ilseudomonas toxin, or dipbtberia toxin. Atrypsin-like serine protease inhibitor, IVLtosyl・L-lysine chleromethyl ketone (TLCK) also prevented ricin-induced DNA fragmentation and cel] death, albeit less effectiyely than DFP. Microscopi...

TMPRSS2 is a type II transmembrane-bound serine protease that has gained interest owing to its highly localized expression in the prostate and its overexpression in neoplastic prostate epithelium. Once activated, the serine protease domain of TMPRSS2 is released from the cell surface into the extracellular space. PAR (protease-activated receptor)-2 belongs to a family of G-protein-coupled recep...

introduction reelin gene (reln) codes a large extracellular matrix glycoprotein with serine protease activity and is implicated in the modulation of neuronal signaling, synaptic transmission and plasticity. the reelin plays a fundamental and pivotal role in the development of laminar structures and may be one of the loci contributing to the positive linkage between chromosome 7q and autistic di...

The yeast-like fungus Aureobasidium pullulans PL5 is a microbial antagonist against postharvest pathogens of fruits. The strain is able to produce hydrolases, including glucanases, chitinases and proteases. The alkaline serine protease gene ALP5 from A. pullulans was cloned, inserted into the vector pPIC9 to construct pPIC9/ALP5, and then expressed in Pichia pastoris strain KM71. ALP5 had a mol...

Newly replicated Plasmodium falciparum parasites escape from host erythrocytes through a tightly regulated process that is mediated by multiple classes of proteolytic enzymes. However, the identification of specific proteases has been challenging. We describe here a forward chemical genetic screen using a highly focused library of more than 1,200 covalent serine and cysteine protease inhibitors...

Rv3671c, a putative serine protease, is crucial for persistence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in the hostile environment of the phagosome. We show that Rv3671c is required for M. tuberculosis resistance to oxidative stress in addition to its role in protection from acidification. Structural and biochemical analyses demonstrate that the periplasmic domain of Rv3671c is a functional serine protea...

The antimicrobial and hemolytic activities of a host defense peptide can be controlled by its modification as a propeptide of reduced net charge, which can then be processed by neutrophil elastase, a serine protease involved in chronic airway inflammation and infections associated with cystic fibrosis.

Proteolytic enzymes have evolved several mechanisms to cleave peptide bonds. These distinct types have been systematically categorized in the MEROPS database. While a BLAST search on these proteases identifies homologous proteins, sequence alignment methods often fail to identify relationships arising from convergent evolution, exon shuffling, and modular reuse of catalytic units. We have previ...