Submaxillary Protease Research Articles

A new blood-coagulating protease in mitochondrial membranes of rat submaxillary glands. Purification and characterization of protease and its blood-coagulating activity.

An integral membrane protease was solubilized and purified to homogeneity from rat submaxillary mitochondria. The purified enzyme could coagulate rabbit plasma. The molecular mass of the enzyme is 22 kDa on SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis under reducing conditions and 24 kDa on gel filtration on a Sephadex G-100 column. Its isoelectric point is 4.2-4.25. Enzyme activity is strongly inhibited by diisopropyl fluorophosphate, soybean trypsin inhibitor, benzamidine, aprotinin, and antipain, suggesting the enzyme as a serine protease. Its pH optimum for activity is 8.5. Zn2+ is strongly inhibitory; at 1 mM concentration it produced 72% inhibition. The enzyme is active toward different synthetic substrates (p-nitroanilide derivatives) containing Arg at the P1 position with blocked NH2 terminus. Kcat/Km was highest with the substrate N-Bz-Pro-Arg-pNa (where Bz is benzoyl and pNA is paranitroanilide). The purified enzyme coagulates rabbit plasma in a dose-dependent manner. Plasma coagulation by the enzyme is completely blocked in the presence of aprotinin or soybean trypsin inhibitor, suggesting that protease activity is required for this coagulation reaction. Antibody raised against the purified enzyme inhibits the plasma coagulation initiated by the enzyme. The enzyme can correct the prolonged clotting time of factor X-deficient human plasma but is unable to convert purified fibrinogen to fibrin clots, indicating factor Xa-like activity of the enzyme. The enzyme has the ability to activate prothrombin. Several properties of the enzyme distinguish it from other reported submaxillary proteases.

Mapping of Neutralizing Epitopes to Fragments of the Bovine Coronavirus E2 Protein by Proteolysis of Antigen-Antibody Complexes

Neutralizing antigenic domains on bovine coronavirus gp100/E2 were mapped to fragments of this protein by proteolytic cleavage and fragment analysis. The procedure involved analysis of fragments generated after incubation of E2-monoclonal antibody complexes with various proteases. The smallest antibody-bound fragments obtained were a 50K fragment following Staphylococcus aureus V8 protease and submaxillary protease digestion, and a 37K fragment following trypsin digestion. Trypsin also produced a transient antibody-bound 50K fragment. A 40K fragment which was not bound by antibody was observed following digestions with all three proteases. The 50K fragments generated by V8, submaxillary protease and trypsin comigrated on gels and displayed the same altered mobility under non-reducing conditions, suggesting identity of these fragments and indicating the presence of disulphide linkages in these fragments. The 40K fragments generated by these three enzymes also comigrated and displayed the same altered mobility under non-reducing conditions. The 37K trypsin fragment contained both neutralizing domains, A and B.

Complete amino acid sequence of copper-zinc superoxide dismutase from Drosophila melanogaster

The complete amino acid sequence of the Drosophila melanogaster Cu,Zn Superoxide dismutase subunit has been determined by automated Edman degradation. Sequence analyses were performed on the intact S-carboxymethylated protein, two fragments derived from CNBr cleavage, and three peptides recovered from mouse submaxillary protease digestion of the reduced and S-carboxymethylated enzyme. The peptides were aligned by characterizing peptides yielded by trypsin and Staphylococcus aureus V8 protease. All the peptides studied were purified exclusively by reverse-phase columns of HPLC and were analyzed with an improved liquid-phase sequencer. A molecular weight of 15,750 (subunit) was calculated from the 151 residues sequenced. The amino acid sequence of the Drosophila Superoxide dismutase subunit is compared with that of four other eucaryotes: man, horse, cow, and yeast. Comparison of the five primary structures reveals very different rates of evolution at different times. Copper-zinc superoxide dismutase appears to be a very erratic evolutionary clock. ValValLysAlaValCysValIleAsn ▪AspAla LysGlyThrValPhePhe Glu ▪GluSerSerGlyThrProValLysVal ▪ GlyGluValCysGlyLeu AlaLysGly ▪HisGlyPheHisValHisGluPhe Gly ▪AsnThrAsnGly CysMetSerSerGly ▪HisPheAsnProTyrGly LysGluHis ▪AlaPro ValAspGluAsnArgHisLeu ▪AspLeuGlyAsn IleGluAlaThrGly ▪ CysProThrLysValAsnIleThrAsp ▪LysIleThr LeuPheGlyAlaAsp Ser ▪IleGlyArgThrValValValHisAla ▪AlaAspAspLeuGlyGln GlyGlyHis ▪LeuSerLysSerThrGlyAsnAla Gly ▪ArgIleGlyCys GlyValIleGlyIle ▪LyS.

The resistance to tryptic hydrolysis of peptide bonds adjacent to N epsilon,N-dimethyllysyl residues.

A peptide from sperm whale myoglobin, residues 132-153, and a chromogenic substrate, H-D-valyl-L-leucyl-L-lysyl-p-nitroanilide diacetate, were selected to investigate the susceptibility of peptide bonds adjacent to N epsilon,N-dimethyllysyl residues to tryptic hydrolysis. The peptides were exhaustively methylated using formaldehyde and sodium cyanoborohydride (N. Jentoft and D. G. Dearborn (1979) J. Biol. Chem. 254, 4359-4365). Unmodified and methylated peptides were digested with trypsin or submaxillary protease, an enzyme that catalyzes the hydrolysis of only arginyl bonds in proteins. Trypsin catalyzed the hydrolysis of the methylated apomyoglobin peptide only at the single arginyl residue and not at any of the four N epsilon,N-dimethyllysyl residues. Trypsin also failed to catalyze the hydrolysis of reductively methylated H-D-valyl-L-leucyl-L-lysyl-p-nitroanilide. Even a 17-fold molar excess of the methylated substrate did not appear to alter the rate of tryptic hydrolysis of the unmodified substrate. These results are discussed with regard to the interactions of substrates within the specificity site of trypsin.

Characterization of two forms of glucoamylase from aspergillus niger

Aspergillus niger glucoamylases GI and GII (E.C. 3.2.1.3) were isolated from a commercial enzyme preparation by ammonium sulfate precipitation followed by DEAE-cellulose ion exchange chromatography. Both enzymes consist of a single glycosylated polypeptide chain. The molecular weights of GI and GII were determined by sedimentation equilibrium ultracentrifugation to 52,000 and 46,000, respectively, and by molecular sieving to 65,000 and 55,000. The amino acid compositions of GI and GII were very similar. Furthermore, the N-terminal amino acid sequence of the intact GI and GII as well as of their cyanogen fragments were identical, suggesting great homology in the primary structure of the two forms. In addition the digests of GI and GII produced respectively by Armillaria mellea protease, Staphylococcus aureus V8 protease, and submaxillary protease were analyzed by high pressure gel permeation chromatography. The elution profiles were also consistent with GI and GII having similar polypeptide chains. However, digestion with carboxypeptidase Y showed different C-terminal residues of the two forms.

Proteolytic enzymes from the mouse submaxillary gland: A partial sequence and demonstration of spontaneous cleavages

The mouse submaxillary proteases (A and D), whose isolation and properties were previously described by us, hydrolyze only arginyl bonds in proteins. The sequence of 40 residues from the amino terminus has been determined. Its structure shows a striking (>50%) homology with other enzymes of the serine group (e.g., trypsin, prothrombin, plasminogen, kallikrein). A single peptide labeled with diisopropylfluoro[ 32P]phosphate had a composition virtually identical to that found in the above proteases, and one active site per molecule was confirmed. The enzymes are very susceptible to spontaneous fragmentation which leads to two cleavages. The first converts enzyme A to D with loss of a small peptide. The second can only be demonstrated after reduction since the fragments appear to be joined by a disulfide bridge. The two resulting fragments with molecular weights of 14,000 and 11,000, respectively, are inactive.

Exogenous protease promotes specific antibody forming cell response in vitro

This report presents results from experiments which evaluated the effect of exogenous protease on the in vitro antibody-forming cell (AFC) response of hamster lymphocytes to sheep erythrocytes (SRBC). In the presence of fetal calf serum, trypsin and papain, but not thermolysin, α-chymotrypsin, thrombin, and submaxillary protease, were able to enhance the quantity of AFC which developed. Prior incubation of antigen with proteases had no effect on subsequent antigenicity. The following observations were made: (1) Addition of protease to the culture system enhanced the AFC response only if added in the first 48 hr of the assay. (2) Proteases were able to enhance the development of AFC in lymph node and spleen cell cultures lacking fetal calf serum for 24 hr. (3) When papain was added to spleen cell cultures which normally produce fewer AFC than lymph node cells (LNC) it promoted the development of a 6- to 10-fold increase in AFC causing the magnitude of the response to match the AFC response expected in LNC cultures. These data support a role for a proteolytic event in lymphocyte activation by specific antigens.

The primary structure of a salivary calcium-binding proline-rich phosphoprotein (protein C), a possible precursor of a related salivary protein A.

The complete primary structure of a calcium-binding "proline-rich phosphoprotein" named salivary Protein C was determined from peptides obtained by enzymatic and chemical cleavages of the protein. The protein consists of a single polypeptide chain of 150 residues. It contains the entire primary structure of a previously isolated salivary Protein A in its NH2-terminal 106 residues. The COOH-terminal 44 residues consist mostly of glycine, glutamine, and proline, including a hexaproline sequence, but no polyproline structure could be detected by CD spectroscopy. There is extensive repetition of sequences in the protein, suggesting gene multiplication and recurrent folding. Comparison of the primary structure of salivary Proteins A and C with known protein sequences indicate that the salivary proteins constitute a new family. A mouse submaxillary protease will cleave salivary Protein C between residues 106 and 107 only, giving rise to salivary Protein A and a 44-residue COOH-terminal peptide. This cleavage and the sequence data suggest that salivary Protein C may be a precursor of salivary Protein A.

Proteolytic enzymes from the mouse submaxillary gland: Specificity restricted to arginine residues

The mouse submaxillary proteases (A + D), the isolation and properties of which were previously described by us, hydrolyze only arginyl bonds in proteins. Formol titrations and peptide mapping on digests of polyarginine, polylysine, lysozyme, histone, and insulin suggested this specificity. Amino acid compositions of peptides from lysozyme and insulin showed that most but not all arginyl bonds were hydrolyzed but that no lysyl bonds were split. The proteases should be useful in the sequencing of proteins.

Studies on proteases in submaxillary gland. I. Fractionation and general characteristics of rat submaxillary proteases.

Studies on proteases in submaxillary gland. I. Fractionation and general characteristics of rat submaxillary proteases.