Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: EC:3.4.21.9 (enterokinase)
 675 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Enterokinase is a serine protease of the duodenal brush border membrane that cleaves trypsinogen and produces active trypsin, thereby leading to the activation of many pancreatic digestive enzymes. Overlapping cDNA clones that encode the complete human enterokinase amino acid sequence were isolated from a human intestine cDNA library. Starting from the first ATG codon, the composite 3696 nt cDNA sequence contains an open reading frame of 3057 nt that encodes a 784 amino acid heavy chain followed by a 235 amino acid light chain; the two chains are linked by at least one disulfide bond. The heavy chain contains a potential N-terminal myristoylation site, a potential signal anchor sequence near the amino terminus, and six structural motifs that are found in otherwise unrelated proteins. These domains resemble motifs of the LDL receptor (two copies), complement component Clr (two copies), the metalloprotease meprin (one copy), and the macrophage scavenger receptor (one copy). The enterokinase light chain is homologous to the trypsin-like serine proteinases. These structural features are conserved among human, bovine, and porcine enterokinase. By Northern blotting, a 4.4 kb enterokinase mRNA was detected only in small intestine. The enterokinase gene was localized to human chromosome 21q21 by fluorescence in situ hybridization.
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PMID:cDNA sequence and chromosomal localization of human enterokinase, the proteolytic activator of trypsinogen. 771 57

Enterokinase is a protease of the intestinal brush border that specifically cleaves the acidic propeptide from trypsinogen to yield active trypsin. This cleavage initiates a cascade of proteolytic reactions leading to the activation of many pancreatic zymogens. The full-length cDNA sequence for bovine enterokinase and partial cDNA sequence for human enterokinase were determined. The deduced amino acid sequences indicate that active two-chain enterokinase is derived from a single-chain precursor. Membrane association may be mediated by a potential signal-anchor sequence near the amino terminus. The amino terminus of bovine enterokinase also meets the known sequence requirements for protein N-myristoylation. The amino-terminal heavy chain contains domains that are homologous to segments of the low density lipoprotein receptor, complement components C1r and C1s, the macrophage scavenger receptor, and a recently described motif shared by the metalloprotease meprin and the Xenopus A5 neuronal recognition protein. The carboxyl-terminal light chain is homologous to the trypsin-like serine proteases. Thus, enterokinase is a mosaic protein with a complex evolutionary history. The amino acid sequence surrounding the amino terminus of the enterokinase light chain is ITPK-IVGG (human) or VSPK-IVGG (bovine), suggesting that single-chain enterokinase is activated by an unidentified trypsin-like protease that cleaves the indicated Lys-Ile bond. Therefore, enterokinase may not be the "first" enzyme of the intestinal digestive hydrolase cascade. The specificity of enterokinase for the DDDDK-I sequence of trypsinogen may be explained by complementary basic-amino acid residues clustered in potential S2-S5 subsites.
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PMID:Enterokinase, the initiator of intestinal digestion, is a mosaic protease composed of a distinctive assortment of domains. 805 24