A number of complex processes are involved in Eimeria spp. survival, including control of sporulation, intracellular invasion, evasion of host immune responses, successful reproduction, and nutrition. Proteases have been implicated in many of these processes, but the occurrence and functions of serine proteases have not been characterized. Bioinformatic analysis suggests that the Eimeria tenell...

BACKGROUND Serine protease inhibitors act as modulators of serine proteases, playing important roles in protecting animal toxin peptides from degradation. However, all known serine protease inhibitors discovered thus far from animal venom belong to the Kunitz-type subfamily, and whether there are other novel types of protease inhibitors in animal venom remains unclear. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Here...

Papillon-Lefèvre syndrome (PLS) results from mutations that inactivate cysteine protease cathepsin C (CTSC), which processes a variety of serine proteases considered essential for antimicrobial defense. Despite serine protease-deficient immune cell populations, PLS patients do not exhibit marked immunodeficiency. Here, we characterized a 24-year-old woman who had suffered from severe juvenile p...

The large and growing number of protease genes identified in the human genome, more than 560, reflects the complexity and relevance of these enzymes in multiple biological processes. As part of our studies on the human degradome--which is defined as the complete set of human protease genes--we have recently identified and cloned three complex polyserine proteases called polyserases. Polyserase-...

Probing of the mouse EST data base at GenBank trade mark with known tryptase cDNAs resulted in the identification of undiscovered serine protease transcripts whose genes reside at a 1.5-Mb complex on mouse chromosome 17A3.3. Mouse tryptase-5 (mT5), tryptase-6 (mT6), and mast cell protease-11 (mMCP-11) are new members of this serine protease superfamily whose amino acid sequences are 36-54% iden...

Toxicity of the extracellular products (ECP) and the lethal attribute of serine protease secreted by five pathogenic Vibrio alginolyticus strains from various sources in kuruma prawn Penaeus japonicus were studied. The ECPs of organisms originally isolated from diseased kuruma prawn or small abalone Haliotis diversicolor supertexta were more lethal (LD50 value of 0.48 or 0.41 microg protein/g p...

BACKGROUND The fungal allergen Alternaria alternata is implicated in severe asthma and rapid onset life-threatening exacerbations of disease. However, the mechanisms that underlie this severe pathogenicity remain unclear. OBJECTIVE We sought to investigate the mechanism whereby Alternaria was capable of initiating severe, rapid onset allergic inflammation. METHODS IL-33 levels were quantifi...

trypsin is a serine protease found in the digestive system of many vertebrates, where it hydrolyses proteins. trypsin has been used widely in various biotechnological processes. in this study trypsin was purified using two precipitation cut, 35% and 75% as saturation percent of ammonium sulfate solutions, tca precipitation (2.5% w/v), ph precipitation and finally affinity chromatography. this m...

Conservation of the cortical granule serine protease during fertilization in echinoderms was tested both functionally in sea stars, and computationally throughout the echinoderm phylum. We find that the inhibitor of serine protease (soybean trypsin inhibitor) effectively blocks proper transition of the sea star fertilization envelope into a protective sperm repellent, whereas inhibitors of the ...

At a low MOI (≤0.01), cytomegalovirus-associated programmed cell death terminates productive infection via a pathway triggered by the mitochondrial serine protease HtrA2/Omi. This infected cell death is associated with late phase replication events naturally suppressed by the viral mitochondrial inhibitor of apoptosis (vMIA). Here, higher MOI (ranging from 0.1-3.0) triggers cell death earlier d...