Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:3.4.24.27 (thermolysin)
 1,894 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Monocytes and lymphocytes form a second wave of infiltrating blood leukocytes in areas of tissue injury. The mechanisms for monocyte accumulation at these sites are not completely understood. Recently, however, fragments from extracellular matrix proteins including collagen, elastin, and fibronectin have been shown to induce monocyte chemotaxis. In this report we demonstrate that chemotactic activity for human monocytes is expressed when a 120-kDa fragment containing the RGDS cell-binding peptide is released from intact fibronectin or from larger fibronectin fragments. Monocytes, either from mononuclear cell Ficoll-Hypaque preparations (10-20% monocytes, 89-90% lymphocytes) or from elutriation preparations (95% monocytes, 5% lymphocytes), but not lymphocytes, migrated toward 120-kDa fragment preparations (10(-7) M) in blind-end chambers when the cells were separated from the chemoattractant by a 5-micron pore polycarbonate filter either alone or overlying a 0.45-micron pore nitrocellulose filter. Neutrophils migrated toward zymosan-activated serum but not toward 10(-5)-10(-8) M concentrations of the 120-kDa fragment. Intact fibronectin had no chemotactic activity for human monocytes. Fibronectin was isolated from citrated human plasma by sequential gelatin-Sepharose affinity and DEAE ion-exchange chromatography in the presence of buffers containing 1 mM phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride to prevent fragmentation. Controlled enzymatic digestion with thermolysin cleaved fibronectin into 30 kDa fibrin, 45 kDa collagen, and 150/160-kDa cell and heparin domains. Upon prolonged digestion, purified 150/160-kDa fragments were cleaved into 120-kDa cell and 30/40-kDa heparin-binding fragments. Even though the intact fibronectin molecule, the 150/160-kDa fragments, and the 120-kDa fragment, have cell binding activity for Chinese hamster ovary fibroblasts, only the 120-kDa fragment expressed chemotactic activity for human monocytes. Thus, the 120-kDa fibroblastic cell-binding fragment contains a cryptic site for monocyte chemotaxis which is expressed upon enzymatic cleavage of fibronectin.
 ...
PMID:Cryptic chemotactic activity of fibronectin for human monocytes resides in the 120-kDa fibroblastic cell-binding fragment. 340 61

Cu(II)--plastocyanin from French beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) is reduced quantitatively by Cr(II)aq ions to give a substitution-inert Cr(III) adduct of Cu(I)--plastocyanin. Enzymatic proteolysis of this derivative by thermolysin led to the identification of the Cr(III) binding peptide. This contains four potential ligands for the metal ion: aspartate-42 and -44 and glutamate-43 and -45. In the three-dimensional fold of plastocyanin, this stretch is very close to tyrosine-83. The emission intensity and its pH dependence observed for the tyrosines in this tryptophan-devoid protein differ markedly in the Cr(III) adduct. That difference is interpreted as reflecting proximity and interaction between the latter metal ion and tyrosine-83. The distance between the copper center and the suggested Cr(III) binding site is approximately 12 A. The intervening region contains an array of highly invariant aromatic residues. These are proposed to be involved in the electron transfer process. A mechanism for that process is presented that involves interaction between the d electrons of the metal ions with d pi-pi* delocalization through a weakly coupled pi* system. The rationale of this electron transfer pathway for the reactivity of plastocyanin with inorganic redox agents is discussed.
 ...
PMID:Identification of an electron transfer locus in plastocyanin by chromium(II) affinity labeling. 694 78

The objective of this study was to localize the actin-binding site in the smooth muscle myosin light chain kinase. Limited proteolysis by thermolysin indicated that hydrolysis of the kinase at the N-terminal end of the molecule resulted in loss of actin-binding ability. Various methods of cleavage were investigated for the generation of a discrete actin-binding peptide. The method chosen was cleavage at the cysteine residues by the 5,5'-dithiobis(2-nitrobenzoic acid)-cyanide complex. This procedure yielded an actin-binding peptide of approximate M(r) 17,000. The peptide was purified and shown to possess the actin-binding properties of the native myosin light chain kinase. The binding constant of the isolated peptide and parent enzyme to actin was estimated as 7.5 x 10(4) M-1. From the amino acid composition of the peptide and comparison with the sequence of gizzard myosin light chain kinase, it was suggested that the actin-binding site is located within the N-terminal sequence 1-114. Comparison with other actin-binding proteins shows some similarities to gizzard alpha-actinin and caldesmon.
 ...
PMID:Actin-binding peptide from smooth muscle myosin light chain kinase. 836 36