The amino acid sequence of porcine spleen cathepsin D heavy chain has been determined and, hence, the complete structure of this enzyme is now known. The sequence of heavy chain was constructed by aligning the structures of peptides generated by cyanogen bromide, trypsin, and endo-proteinase Lys C cleavages. The structure of the light chain has been published previously. The cathepsin D molecul...

Chymosin (Rennin EC 3.4.23.4), an aspartyl proteinase, is the major proteolytic enzyme in the fourthstomach of the unweaned calf, and it is formed by proteolytic activation of its zymogene, prochymosin.Following the cloning of synthesized cDNAs on mRNA pools extracted from the mucosa of the calf fourthstomach, we have identified an alternatively spliced form of preprochymosin ...

The 40 kDa secreted aspartyl proteinase (Sapt1) of Candida tropicalis is a pepsin-like enzyme encoded by the SAPT1 gene. According to the deduced amino acid sequence. Sapt1 has a putative preproregion of 60 amino acids preceding the mature enzyme. Maturation and processing of Sapt1 was analysed in C. tropicalis and Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains expressing wild-type or mutated forms of SAPT1....

To comprehensively assess the in vivo expression of Candida albicans hydrolytic enzyme genes during oropharyngeal candidiasis (OPC), a controlled sequential analysis of the temporal expression of individual members of the SAP (secretory aspartyl proteinase) gene family and PLB1 (phospholipase B) in a murine model of OPC was conducted. Acute infections in intact C3H and DBA/2 mice were terminate...

The selectivity of cathepsin D, a mammalian intracellular aspartyl proteinase involved in the degradation of endocytosed proteins, was studied. For this purpose, several proteins of known primary structure were subjected to mild proteolysis by the enzyme, and the preferentially cleaved peptide bonds were identified. Comparison of the primary structures around these sites indicates that cathepsi...

Although the echinocandin caspofungin primarily inhibits the synthesis of cell wall 1,3-beta-D-glucan, its fungicidal activity could also potentially perturb the expression of virulence factors involved in the ability of Candida albicans to cause infection. Expression of the C. albicans secretory aspartyl proteinase (SAP) and phospholipase B (PLB) virulence genes was determined by reverse trans...

Alzheimer's disease is a neurodegenerative condition characterized by an accumulation of toxic amyloid beta- (Aβ-)peptides in the brain causing progressive neuronal death. Aβ-peptides are produced by aspartyl proteinase-mediated cleavage of the larger amyloid precursor protein (APP). In contrast to this detrimental "amyloidogenic" form of proteolysis, a range of zinc metalloproteinases can proc...

Secreted aspartyl proteinases are putative virulence factors in Candida infections. Candida albicans possesses at least nine members of a SAP gene family, all of which have been sequenced. Although the expression of the SAP genes has been extensively characterized under laboratory growth conditions, no studies have analyzed in detail the in vivo expression of these proteinases in human oral col...