Cleavage specificity of cucumisin, a plant serine protease

J Biochem. 1995 May;117(5):1126-30. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.jbchem.a124817.

Abstract

Cucumisin was isolated from prince melon sarcocarp by means of a simple purification procedure. Serine protease inhibitors such as soybean trypsin inhibitor, ovomucoid, and aprotinin had no effect on the enzyme activity. alpha 2-Macroglobulin showed 38% inhibition of the original caseinolytic activity of cucumisin. The favorable synthetic substrates for cucumisin were Glt-Ala-Ala-Pro-Leu-pNA and Suc-Ala-Ala-Pro-Phe-pNA. The constant (kcat/Km) for Suc-Ala-Pro-Ala-pNA was found to be 30 times greater than that for Suc-Ala-Ala-Ala-pNA. The substrate specificity of cucumisin for oligopeptides and proteins was shown to be broad.

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Aniline Compounds / chemistry
  • Binding Sites
  • Enzyme Stability
  • Fruit / chemistry
  • Hot Temperature
  • Hydrolysis
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Oligopeptides / chemistry
  • Oligopeptides / metabolism
  • Peptides / chemistry
  • Peptides / metabolism
  • Plant Proteins / chemistry
  • Plant Proteins / metabolism
  • Serine Endopeptidases / chemistry
  • Serine Endopeptidases / drug effects
  • Serine Endopeptidases / metabolism*
  • Substrate Specificity
  • Temperature

Substances

  • Aniline Compounds
  • Oligopeptides
  • Peptides
  • Plant Proteins
  • Serine Endopeptidases
  • cucumisin