Pseudomonas aeruginosa elastase and the LasA protease are synthesized as preproenzymes with long amino-terminal propeptides. The elastase propeptide is cleaved autocatalytically in the periplasm to form a transient, inactive elastase-propeptide complex. In contrast, the processing of proLasA does not involve autoproteolysis. In this study, we analyzed short-term P. aeruginosa cultures under con...

Secretion of recombinant proteins is a common strategy for heterologous protein expression using the yeast Kluyveromyces lactis. However, a common problem is degradation of a target recombinant protein by secretory pathway aspartyl proteases. In this study, we identified five putative pfam00026 aspartyl proteases encoded by the K. lactis genome. A set of selectable marker-free protease deletion...

Alpha-1 antitrypsin (AT) is a member of the serine proteinase inhibitor (SERPIN) superfamily. It is an acute phase protein produced constitutively, primarily by hepatocytes, and is secreted in to the plasma from where it diffuses into the lung. AT is the most abundant proteinase inhibitor within the lung whose main physiological role is to regulate neutrophil elastase (NE) liberated from activa...

The aspartyl proteinase (PR) encoded by the feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) was prepared by total chemical synthesis. The 116-amino-acid polypeptide chain was assembled in a stepwise fashion using a Boc chemistry solid-phase peptide synthesis approach and subsequently folded into the biologically active dimeric proteinase. The synthetic enzyme showed proteolytic activity against a variety o...

In this study, the levels of the cysteine proteinase--cathepsin B were measured in diseased synovial fluids using a steady state fluorometric assay. Cathepsin B-like activity was shown to be present in all the samples analysed, with the rheumatoid arthritic synovial fluids possessing significantly higher concentrations (mean value ca. 416 mg/l) than the osteoarthritic fluids (mean value ca. 142...

Malassezia is the dominant family of fungi residing on human skin and associated with many dermatological conditions. Among these diseases, only pityriasis versicolor (PV) has definite etiological connections Malassezia. In hyper or hypo-pigmented scales PV patients, enriched in its hyphal form which rarely present healthy skin. How contributes to disease pathology unknown. this study, we obser...