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A protease is an enzyme that catalyzes proteolysis, breaking down proteins into smaller polypeptides or single amino acids, and spurring the formation of new protein products. They do this by cleaving the peptide bonds within proteins by hydrolysis, a reaction where water breaks bonds. Proteases are involved in many biological functions, including digestion of ingested proteins, protein catabolism, and cell signaling.
Opioid receptors are a group of inhibitory G protein-coupled receptors with opioids as ligands. The endogenous opioids are dynorphins, enkephalins, endorphins, endomorphins and nociceptin. The opioid receptors are ~40% identical to somatostatin receptors (SSTRs). Opioid receptors are distributed widely in the brain, in the spinal cord, on peripheral neurons, and digestive tract.
In cell biology, Protein kinase C, commonly abbreviated to PKC (EC 2.7.11.13), is a family of protein kinase enzymes that are involved in controlling the function of other proteins through the phosphorylation of hydroxyl groups of serine and threonine amino acid residues on these proteins, or a member of this family. PKC enzymes in turn are activated by signals such as increases in the concentration of diacylglycerol (DAG) or calcium ions (Ca2+). Hence PKC enzymes play important roles in several signal transduction cascades.
Spectrin is a cytoskeletal protein that lines the intracellular side of the plasma membrane in eukaryotic cells. Spectrin forms pentagonal or hexagonal arrangements, forming a scaffold and playing an important role in maintenance of plasma membrane integrity and cytoskeletal structure. The hexagonal arrangements are formed by tetramers of spectrin subunits associating with short actin filaments at either end of the tetramer. These short actin filaments act as junctional complexes allowing the formation of the hexagonal mesh. The protein is named spectrin since it was first isolated as a major protein component of human red blood cells which had been treated with mild detergents; the detergents lysed the cells and the hemoglobin and other cytoplasmic components were washed out. In the light microscope the basic shape of the red blood cell could still be seen as the spectrin-containing submembranous cytoskeleton preserved the shape of the cell in outline. This became known as a red blood cell "ghost" (spectre), and so the major protein of the ghost was named spectrin.
A calpain is a protein belonging to the family of calcium-dependent, non-lysosomal cysteine proteases expressed ubiquitously in mammals and many other organisms. Calpains constitute the C2 family of protease clan CA in the MEROPS database. The calpain proteolytic system includes the calpain proteases, the small regulatory subunit CAPNS1, also known as CAPN4, and the endogenous calpain-specific inhibitor, calpastatin.
Maitotoxin is an extremely potent biotoxin produced by Gambierdiscus toxicus, a dinoflagellate species. Maitotoxin has been shown to be more than one hundred thousand times more potent than VX nerve agent. Maitotoxin is so potent that it has been demonstrated that an intraperitoneal injection of 130 ng/kg was lethal in mice. Maitotoxin was named from the ciguateric fish Ctenochaetus striatus—called "maito" in Tahiti—from which maitotoxin was isolated for the first time. It was later shown that maitotoxin is actually produced by the dinoflagellate Gambierdiscus toxicus.
Calpain-2 is an intracellular heterodimeric calcium-activated cysteine protease. This enzyme catalyses the following chemical reaction
Enzyme activators are molecules that bind to enzymes and increase their activity. They are the opposite of enzyme inhibitors. These molecules are often involved in the allosteric regulation of enzymes in the control of metabolism. An example of an enzyme activator working in this way is fructose 2,6-bisphosphate, which activates phosphofructokinase 1 and increases the rate of glycolysis in response to the hormone glucagon. In some cases, when a substrate binds to one catalytic subunit of an enzyme, this can trigger an increase in the substrate affinity as well as catalytic activity in the enzyme's other subunits, and thus the substrate acts as an activator.
A PEST sequence is a peptide sequence that is rich in proline (P), glutamic acid (E), serine (S) and threonine (T). It is associated with proteins that have a short intracellular half-life, so might act as a signal peptide for protein degradation. This may be mediated via the proteasome or calpain.
Calpain-10 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the CAPN10 gene.
Calpain-2 catalytic subunit is a protein that in humans is encoded by the CAPN2 gene.
Calpain-3 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the CAPN3 gene.
Calpain-1 catalytic subunit(CANP 1) is a protein that in humans is encoded by the CAPN1 gene.
5'-AMP-activated protein kinase catalytic subunit alpha-2 is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the PRKAA2 gene.
Cyclin-dependent kinase 5 activator 1 is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the CDK5R1 gene.
Calpastatin is a protein that in humans is encoded by the CAST gene.
Calpain small subunit 1(CSS1), is a protein that in humans is encoded by the CAPNS1 gene.
Calpain-5 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the CAPN5 gene.
Calpain-9 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the CAPN9 gene.
Calpain-6 is a protein in humans that is encoded by the CAPN6 gene.
References
- ↑ Dutt P, Spriggs CN, Davies PL, Jia Z, Elce JS (October 2002). "Origins of the difference in Ca2+ requirement for activation of mu- and m-calpain". The Biochemical Journal. 367 (Pt 1): 263–9. doi:10.1042/bj20020485. PMC 1222847 . PMID 12014988.
