Sulfhydryl-endopeptidase (SH-EP) is a papain-type vacuolar proteinase expressed in cotyledons of germinated Vigna mungo seeds, and the enzyme possesses a C-terminal propeptide containing KDEL tail, an endoplasmic reticulum retention signal for soluble proteins. SH-EP is transported to vacuoles via a KDEL vesicle (KV) through a Golgi complex-independent route. To see the function of the KDEL seq...

Senescence is a tightly regulated process and both compartmentalisation and regulated activation of degradative enzymes is critical to avoid premature cellular destruction. Proteolysis is a key process in senescent tissues, linked to disassembly of cellular contents and nutrient remobilisation. Cysteine proteases are responsible for most proteolytic activity in senescent petals, encoded by a ge...

Programmed cell death (PCD) is a genetically determined process in all multicellular organisms. Plant PCD is effected by a unique group of papain-type cysteine endopeptidases (CysEP) with a C-terminal KDEL endoplasmic reticulum (ER) retention signal (KDEL CysEP). KDEL CysEPs can be stored as pro-enzymes in ER-derived endomembrane compartments and are released as mature CysEPs in the final stage...

The chemokine receptor, CXCR4, and its specific ligand, CXCL12, have been proven to regulate the directional trafficking and invasion of breast cancer cells to sites of metastases, and similar phenomena have also been identified in many malignant tumors that aberrantly overexpress CXCR4. Therefore, blocking the interaction between CXCR4 and CXCL12 is considered a possible approach to efficientl...

Senescence is a tightly regulated process and both compartmentalisation and regulated activation of degradative enzymes is critical to avoiding premature cellular destruction. Proteolysis is a key process in senescent tissues, linked to disassembly of cellular contents and nutrient remobilisation. Cysteine proteases are responsible for most proteolytic activity in senescent petals, encoded by a...

Cell fusion by human parainfluenza virus (HPIV) type 2 or type 3 requires the coexpression of both the fusion (F) and haemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN) glycoproteins from the same virus type, indicating that promotion of fusion requires a type-specific interaction between F and HN. In this report we have further investigated the interaction of the ectodomains of the F and HN glycoproteins from ...

Intracellular transport is best understood for how proteins are shuttled among different compartments of the secretory pathway by membrane-bound transport carriers. However, it remains unclear whether regulation of this transport is modulated by the transported (cargo) proteins in the lumen of transport pathways. In the early secretory pathways that connect the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and th...

Membrane trafficking involves large fluxes of cargo and membrane across separate compartments. These fluxes must be regulated by control systems to maintain homoeostasis. While control systems for other key functions such as protein folding or the cell cycle are well known, the mechanisms that control secretory transport are poorly understood. We have previously described a signalling circuit o...

To investigate the manner in which B cells with light (L) chains undergo receptor editing, we have studied hybridoma panels from 56R -deleted (kdel) mice. 56R kdel mice only produce four L chains ( 1, 2, 3, and X). They also have a simplified heavy (H) chain repertoire: All B cells start out with a 56R anti-DNA H chain. A few frankly autoreactive 56R 1 cells appear to escape into the periphery,...

We report a PS1 gene mutation (Val 97Leu) in a Chinese familial Alzheimer's disease (FAD) pedigree and a cell model of FAD built by transfecting PS1 v97L mutants into human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells. To test our hypothesis that the PS1 v97L mutation is pathogenic, we investigated possible alterations in transport regulation and intracellular Ca(2+) homeostasis in endoplasmic reticulum (ER). G...