Plants frequently respond to herbivorous insect attack by synthesizing defense proteins that deter insect feeding and prevent additional herbivory. Maize (Zea mays L.) lines, resistant to feeding by a number of lepidopteran species, rapidly mobilize a unique 33-kDa cysteine protease in response to caterpillar feeding. The accumulation of the 33-kDa cysteine protease in the maize mid-whorl was c...

Background: Phytocystatins are plants cysteine protease inhibitors (CPIs) that known for their numerous uses in medicine and biotechnology. Methods: Different extraction media which include, Sodium Hydroxide, Hydrochloric acid, Chloride, phosphate buffer distilled Water were used to evaluate flower, leave, root, latex, stem bark of Moringa oleifera inhibitory activity against (Papain enzyme). T...

To investigate ethylene's role in petal senescence, a comparative analysis of age-related changes in total protein, protease activity, and the expression of nine cysteine protease genes in the corollas of ethylene-sensitive Petuniaxhybrida cv. Mitchell Diploid (MD) and ethylene-insensitive (35S:etr1-1; line 44568) transgenic petunias was conducted. The later stages of corolla senescence in MD f...

The Caenorhabditis elegans cell-death gene ced-3 encodes a protein similar to mammalian interleukin-1beta-converting enzyme (ICE), a cysteine protease implicated in mammalian apoptosis. We show that the full-length CED-3 protein undergoes proteolytic activation to generate a CED-3 cysteine protease and that CED-3 protease activity is required for killing cells by programmed cell death in C. ele...

BACKGROUND To enable intravascular detection of inflammation in atherosclerosis, we developed a near-infrared fluorescence (NIRF) catheter-based strategy to sense cysteine protease activity during vascular catheterization. METHODS AND RESULTS The NIRF catheter design was based on a clinical coronary artery guidewire. In phantom studies of NIRF plaques, blood produced only a mild (<30%) attenu...

Erythrocytic malaria parasites utilize proteases for a number of cellular processes, including hydrolysis of hemoglobin, rupture of erythrocytes by mature schizonts, and subsequent invasion of erythrocytes by free merozoites. However, mechanisms used by malaria parasites to control protease activity have not been established. We report here the identification of an endogenous cysteine protease ...

The extracellular matrix components show specific distribution patterns within various structures of the umbilical cord, among which Wharton's jelly is especially collagen-rich tissue. Cathepsin L is a potent cysteine protease engaged in degradation of extracellular matrix proteins, including collagens. We evaluated the activity and expression of cathepsin L, and the inhibitory effect of cystei...

A recent study with isogenic strains constructed by recombinant DNA strategies unambiguously documented that a highly conserved extracellular cysteine protease expressed by Streptococcus pyogenes (group A Streptococcus [GAS]) is a critical virulence factor in a mouse model of invasive disease (S. Lukomski, S. Sreevatsan, C. Amberg, W. Reichardt, M. Woischnik, A. Podbielski, and J. M. Musser, J....

Cysteine proteases of the papain superfamily are implicated in a number of cellular processes and are important virulence factors in the pathogenesis of parasitic disease. These enzymes have therefore emerged as promising targets for antiparasitic drugs. We report the crystal structures of three major parasite cysteine proteases, cruzain, falcipain-3, and the first reported structure of rhodesa...

A cDNA encoding an endogenous inhibitor, termed calpastatin, for calcium-dependent cysteine protease (calpain, EC 3.4.22.17) was cloned by screening rabbit cDNA libraries with a synthetic oligodeoxynucleotide probe based on the partial amino acid sequence of the purified protein. The deduced amino acid sequence contains 718 amino acid residues (Mr, 76,964), and the mature protein corresponds to...