Alkaline crude enzymes from the viscera of the Tunisian barbel (Barbus callensis) were extracted and characterized. Proteolytic crude extract from barbel viscera was active and stable in alkaline solution. The optimum pH and temperature were 11.0 and 55 °C, respectively, using casein as a substrate. The crude alkaline protease was extremely stable in the pH range of 5.0-12.0. Zymography activit...

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of weaning age and feeding method on amylase and protease activity and pig performance up to 10-weeks of age. One-half of the pigs were weaned at 2-weeks of age and fed their diet in paste form or as a dry meal. Remaining pigs were weaned at 4 weeks with one-half the litters provided with creep from 2to 4-weeks of age, while the remainder re...

Extracellular proteases including matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are speculated to play a significant role in chronic lung diseases, such as asthma. Although increased protease expression has been correlated with lung pathogenesis, the relationship between localized enzyme activity and disease progression remains poorly understood. We report the application of MMP-2/9 activatable cell-penetra...

Proteases have a significant role in the life cycle of parasites and the pathogen-host relationship, being regarded as important virulence factors. In the parasitic nematode Hysterothylacium aduncum proteolytic activity was measured during in vitro development from third larval stage (L3) to mature adult, using DQ red casein as a fluorogenic substrate. Proteolytic activity was detected in all t...

BACKGROUND Pollen is an important trigger of allergic rhinitis, conjunctivitis, and/or asthma, and an exacerbating factor in atopic dermatitis. Although it is proposed that protease activity from allergen sources, such as mites, enhances allergenicity, little information is available on that from relevant allergenic pollens such as Japanese cedar and Japanese cypress pollens, which are the majo...

Protease inhibitors from plants are well known to be potent inhibitors of the growth of bacteria, fungi, and even certain viruses which make them excellent candidates for use as the lead compounds for the development of novel antimicrobial agents for applications in medicine. In this study, Rhamnus frangula was selected as a protease inhibitor source. The maximum recovery of the protease inhibi...

Xenorhabdus nematophila, a bacterium pathogenic for insects associated with the nematode Steinernema carpocapsae, releases high quantities of proteases, which may participate in the virulence against insects. Zymogram assays and cross-reactions of antibodies suggested that two distinct proteases were present. The major one, protease II, was purified and shown to have a molecular mass of 60 kDa ...

An alkalophilic bacterium, Bacillus cereus produced an extracellular alkaline protease, which was found to be active at high temperature and pH range, suitable for commercial laundry detergents. B. cereus protease was partitioned in different aqueous two-phase systems such as PEG/dextran, PEG/potassium phosphate, PEG/sodium citrate, PEG/magnesium sulphate and PEG/sodium dihydrogen phosphate and...

Neuronal apoptosis occurs during nervous system development and after pathological insults to the adult nervous system. Inhibition of CED3/ICE-related proteases has been shown to inhibit neuronal apoptosis in vitro and in vivo, indicating a role for these cysteine proteases in neuronal apoptosis. We have studied the activation of the CED3/ICE-related protease CPP32 in two in vitro models of mou...

The alkaline protease gene, Apr, from Bacillus licheniformis 2709 was cloned into an expression vector pET 28b(+). The pET-28b(+) Apr was expressed in a high expression strain E. coli BL21. In order to develop and optimize mathematical model of protease activity, three variables were investigated, including peptone concentration (6 g/L to 10 g/L), incubation time (16 h to 32 h) and agitation fr...