CYST WALL ENDOPROTEASES OF ENTAMOEBA INVADENS AND ENTAMOEBA HISTOLYTICA

该子项目是利用 由NIH/NCRR资助的中心赠款提供的资源。子项目和 研究者（PI）可能从另一个NIH来源获得主要资金， 因此可以在其他CRISP条目中表示。列出的机构是 中心，不一定是研究者的机构。 侵袭内阿米巴和溶组织内阿米巴是相关的肠道病原体。 前者是一种感染多种爬行动物的病原体，后者是一种感染人类的病原体。E.溶组织剂 Jacob蛋白具有保守的凝集素样结构域，并且可能对维持这些病原体中的囊壁完整性很重要。 推测的内切蛋白酶位点在它们的序列中在内阿米巴属物种中是保守的，因此蛋白水解事件对于囊壁的正常功能可能是重要的。E.溶组织菌基因组是半胱氨酸蛋白酶，表明推定的Jacob蛋白酶是这种类型。已经构建了含有推定的内阿米巴蛋白酶位点的FITC标记肽，用于使用包括MALDI-TOF质谱分析的方法检测蛋白酶活性的策略。本研究试图鉴定E.在使用已知蛋白酶抑制剂的策略中使用溶组织细胞提取物。 结果表明，特异性抑制剂将用于蛋白酶的亲和富集，蛋白质组学方法将用于鉴定活性蛋白酶。

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Entamoeba invadens and Entamoeba histolytica are related enteric pathogens. The former is a pathogen affecting several reptile taxons and the later is a pathogen in man. Jacob proteins are abundant components of the cyst wall in E. invadens and homologues of it exist in E. histolytica. The Jacob proteins have conserved lectin-like domains and are likely important for maintenance of cyst wall integrity in these pathogens. Putative endoprotease sites are conserved in their sequence across Entamoeba species and therefore a proteolytic event may be important for proper function of the cyst wall. That most proteases in the E. histolytica genome are cysteine proteases suggests that the putative Jacob proteases are of this type. FITC label peptides containing the putative Entamoeba protease sites have been constructed for use in strategies to detect protease activity using approaches including MALDI-TOF mass spectrometric analysis. This study attempts to identify specific protease activities in E. histolytica cell extracts in strategies using known protease inhibitors. As results indicate, specific inhibitors will be used for affinity enrichment of the proteases and proteomics approaches will be used to identify the active protease(s).