BACKGROUND Several HIV protease mutations, which are resistant to clinical HIV protease inhibitors (PIs), have been identified. There is a great need for second-generation PIs with different chemical structures and/or with an alternative mode of inhibition. Ginkgolic acid is a natural herbal substance and a major component of the lipid fraction in the nutshells of the Ginkgo biloba tree. The ob...

After our previous purificational and optimisational studies on alkaline protease from a mutant of B. licheniformis Bl8, Characterisation of the purified enzyme was done from the culture supernatant by employing various parameters. The optimum pH and temperature for the activity of alkaline protease was previously found to be 10 and 50 0 C and stable in the pH range 5.0-12.0. The thermo stabili...

The distribution of the metalloprotease gene zmpA was determined among strains of the Burkholderia cepacia complex (Bcc). The zmpA gene was present in B. cepacia, B. cenocepacia, B. stabilis, B. ambifaria and B. pyrrocinia but absent from B. multivorans, B. vietnamiensis, B. dolosa, and B. anthina. The presence of zmpA generally correlated with extracellular proteolytic activity with the except...

The Gram-negative bacterium and opportunistic pathogen Serratia marcescens causes ocular infections in healthy individuals. Secreted protease activity was characterized from 44 ocular clinical isolates, and a higher frequency of protease-positive strains was observed among keratitis isolates than among conjunctivitis isolates. A positive correlation between protease activity and cytotoxicity to...

Protease IV is a lysine-specific endoprotease produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa whose activity has been correlated with corneal virulence. Comparison of the protease IV amino acid sequence to other bacterial proteases suggested that amino acids His-72, Asp-122, and Ser-198 could form a catalytic triad that is critical for protease IV activity. To test this possibility, site-directed mutations ...

1. The cartilage-proteoglycan-degrading activity of synovial fluid cells from rheumatoid patients is primarily due to neutral protease activity; hyaluronidase does not contribute significantly. Evidence for these conclusions is adduced from electrophoresis of degradation products, from comparison of the proteoglycan-degrading and protease activities of extracts and from the effects of activator...

Several serine proteases and protease inhibitors have been identified in the crustacean olfactory organ, which is comprised of the lateral flagellum of the antennule and its aesthetascs sensilla that house olfactory receptor neurons and their supporting cells. The function of these proteases in the olfactory organ is unknown, but may include a role in perireception (e.g., odor activation or ina...

Retrospective studies of patients with thrombotic microangiopathies (TMAs) have shown that a deficient activity of von Willebrand factor (vWF)-cleaving protease is involved in thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) but not in the hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS). To further analyze the relevance of this enzymatic activity in TMA diagnosis, a 20-month multicenter study of vWF-cleaving protease...

The distribution and subcellular localization of the two major proteases present in oat (Avena sativa L. cv Victory) leaves was investigated. Both the acidic protease, active at pH 4.5, and the neutral protease, active at pH 7.5, are soluble enzymes; a few percent of the enzyme activity was ionically bound or loosely associated with organellar structures sedimenting at 1000g. On the average, 16...