We report a general combinatorial approach to identify optimal substrates of a given protease by using quantitative kinetic screening of cellular libraries of peptide substrates (CLiPS). A whole-cell protease activity assay was developed by displaying fluorescent reporter substrates on the surface of Escherichia coli as N-terminal fusions. This approach enabled generation of substrate libraries...

The regulation of apoptosis during infection is an important factor for host survival and, in some cases, also for the virus life cycle. At the same time, mechanisms to prevent the induction of apoptosis have been observed in numerous viral pathogens, but until now the role of apoptosis during arenavirus infection has not been investigated. Junin virus (JUNV) belongs to the New World arenavirus...

We show that Cdc6, an essential initiation factor for DNA replication, undergoes caspase-3-mediated cleavage in the early stages of apoptosis in HeLa cells and SK-HEP-1 cells induced by etoposide, paclitaxel, ginsenoside Rh2, or tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand. The cleavage occurs at the SEVD442/G motif and generates an N-terminal truncated Cdc6 fragment (p49-tCdc6) that...

sixteen avian influenza (ai) h9n2 viruses were isolated from disease outbreaks in different parts of iranduring (1998–2001). these ai isolates were used for pathogenicity, haemagglutinin (ha) gene variation andphylogenetic analysis. results in both pathogenicity tests and ha gene cleavage site sequence detectionrepresented a non-highly pathogenic feature for all iranian ai isolates studied. the...

We report here the cleavage of the c-Jun N-terminal Kinase (JNK) pathway scaffold protein, JNK Interacting Protein-1 (JIP1), by caspases during both Tumour Necrosis Factor-Related Apoptosis-Inducing Ligand (TRAIL) and staurosporine-induced apoptosis in HeLa cells. During the initiation of apoptosis, maximal JNK activation is observed when JIP1 is intact, whereas cleavage of JIP1 correlates with...

UNLABELLED Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) has the ability to antagonize host apoptosis during infection through promotion and inhibition of effectors injected by the type III secretion system (T3SS), but the total number of these effectors and the overall functional relationships between these effectors during infection are poorly understood. EspC produced by EPEC cleaves fodrin, paxi...

The "Function to Find Domain" (FIIND)-containing proteins CARD8 (Cardinal; Tucan) and NLRP1 (NALP1; NAC) are well known components of inflammasomes, multiprotein complexes responsible for activation of caspase-1, a regulator of inflammation and innate immunity. Although identified many years ago, the role of the FIIND is unknown. Here, we report that CARD8 and NLRP1 undergo autoproteolytic clea...

The Alzheimer's disease-associated presenilin (PS) 1 is intimately involved in gamma-secretase cleavage of beta-amyloid precursor protein and other proteins. In addition, PS1 plays a role in beta-catenin signaling and in the regulation of apoptosis. Here we demonstrate that phosphorylation of PS1 is regulated by two independent signaling pathways involving protein kinase (PK) A and PKC and that...

Background: The detrimental effects of persistent stimulation with hCG were investigated in rat Leydig cells in vitro. Materials and Methods: Oxidative stress parameters such as lipid peroxidation, Reactive oxygen species(ROS), Total antioxidant capcity (TAC) and activities of antioxidant enzymes were assessed in the treated cells. Apoptosis amongest the trearted cells were detected by in situ ...

Sixteen avian influenza (AI) H9N2 viruses were isolated from disease outbreaks in different parts of Iranduring (1998–2001). These AI isolates were used for pathogenicity, haemagglutinin (HA) gene variation andphylogenetic analysis. Results in both pathogenicity tests and HA gene cleavage site sequence detectionrepresented a non-highly pathogenic feature for all Iranian AI isolates studied. The...