Abstract
Do proteolytic cascades exist in plants?
Highlights
A proteolytic cascade consists of proteases that activate other proteases by processing (Fig. 1A)
Most proteases are produced as zymogens carrying an N- or C-terminal inhibitory prodomain that folds into the active site cleft, often in an orientation opposite to that of a substrate (Verma et al, 2016)
The accumulation of proSH-EP in plants lacking VmPE-1 [criterion (4)] has not yet been reported.The authors highlight that even if SH-EP can autoactivate in vitro under suitable conditions, these autocatalytic mechanisms might not function in vivo, and that other proteases such as Vacuolar processing enzymes (VPEs) may accelerate the activation of SH-EP at pH conditions unfavourable for autocatalytic activation
Summary
Proteolytic cascades are hierarchical sets of proteases that activate each other by proteolytic cleavage. Textbook examples are Ser proteases regulating blood coagulation and caspases regulating apoptosis. Many additional proteolytic cascades have been described in animal biology. Some plant proteases require non-self processing to become active, and vacuolar processing enzymes, subtilase-like, and papain-like proteases have been implicated in proteolytic cascades. We discuss these examples against four criteria that are set for proteolytic cascades in animal science and conclude that proteolytic cascades are likely to occur in plants but remain to be characterized
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