Expression of the coronaviral gene 1 polyproteins, pp 1a and pp 1ab, involves a series of proteolytic events that are mediated by virus-encoded proteinases similar to cellular papain-like cysteine-proteinases and the 3C-like proteinases of picornaviruses. In this study, we have characterized, in vitro, the human coronavirus HCV 229E papain-like cysteine-proteinase PCP 1. We show that PCP 1 is a...

Cysteine proteases are involved in many physiological processes and their hyperactivity may lead to severe diseases. Nature has developed various strategies to protect cells and whole organisms against undesired proteolysis. One of them is the control of proteolytic activity by inhibition. This paper presents the mechanisms underlying the action of proteinaceous inhibitors of cysteine proteinas...

Seeds constitute a rich source of proteins that can inhibit specific enzyme groups. Thus far, the best characterised are inhibitors of enzymes which play an integral part in the germination process. These include the proteinase inhibitors, and as such they may play a role in the prevention of precocious germination. However, these proteins are members of multi-gene families which also encode is...

Cysteine proteinase inhibitor (CPI) forms from human liver were purified from the tissue homogenate by alkaline denaturation of cysteine proteinases with which they are complexed, acetone fractionation, affinity chromatography on S-carboxymethyl-papain-Sepharose and chromatofocusing. The multiple forms of CPI were shown immunologically to be forms of two proteins, referred to as CPI-A (comprisi...

Human macrophages mediate the dissolution of elastic lamina by mobilizing tissue-destructive cysteine proteinases. While macrophage-mediated elastin degradation has been linked to the expression of cathepsins L and S, these cells also express cathepsin K, a new member of the cysteine proteinase family whose elastinolytic potential exceeds that of all known elastases. To determine the relative r...

Two cDNA clones for plant cysteine proteinases have been isolated from a Carica papaya (paw-paw, papaya) leaf tissue cDNA library by using a mixture of 16 synthetic oligodeoxyribonucleotides as a hybridization probe. The inserted regions are 311 and 440 base-pairs in length and have the potential to encode a region corresponding to the C-terminal region of two proteins which are homologous with...

Trichomonas vaginalis is a protozoan parasite that causes a widely distributed sexually transmitted disease (STD). Since immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies to specific trichomonad immunogens are found in serum and vaginal washes (VWs) from patients with trichomoniasis, a potential mechanism of immune evasion by this parasite might be the ability of T. vaginalis proteinases to degrade human immun...

Porphyromonas gingivalis, and organism implicated in the etiology and pathogenesis of human periodontal diseases, produces a variety of potent proteolytic enzymes, and it has been suggested that these enzymes play a direct role in the destruction of periodontal tissues. We now report that two cell-associated cysteine proteinases of P. gingivalis W12, with molecular masses of approximately 150 k...

Webster, Marion E. (Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Washington, D. C.), Patricia L. Altieri, David A. Conklin, Sanford Berman, Joseph P. Lowenthal, and Raymond B. Gochenour. Enzymatic debridement of third-degree burns on guinea pigs by Clostridium histolyticum proteinases. J. Bacteriol. 83:602-608. 1962.-An attempt has been made to correlate in vitro activities of Clostridium histolytic...

Porphyromonas gingivalis has been associated with the development of adult periodontitis and cysteine proteinases with Arg- and Lys-specific activity have been implicated as major virulence factors. In a cell sonicate of P. gingivalis W50, a complex of non-covalently associated proteins has been previously characterized. This complex is composed of a 45 kDa Arg-specific, calcium-stabilized cyst...