A highly sensitive fluorometric assay for determination of human coagulation factor XIII in plasma.

Based on the iso-peptidase activity of human plasma FXIII, a novel fluorometric assay that determines FXIII concentrations in human plasma below 0.05 IU/ml is introduced. We considered a peptide sequence derived from alpha(2)-antiplasmin (n =12) to yield high sensitivity.

A quenched fluorescent dipeptide for assaying dispase- and thermolysin-like proteases.

Metalloproteases such as dispase and thermolysin play a crucial role in the life cycle of bacteria. Commonly, they prefer hydrophobic amino acids at P1' of substrate proteins, thereby cleaving the peptide bond at the alpha amino group. Activity of such proteases has been measured by the use of tailor-made oligopeptides provided with fluorescence resonance energy transfer dyes.