Exoerythrocytic Plasmodium parasites secrete a cysteine protease inhibitor involved in sporozoite invasion and capable of blocking cell death of host hepatocytes.

Plasmodium parasites must control cysteine protease activity that is critical for hepatocyte invasion by sporozoites, liver stage development, host cell survival and merozoite liberation. Here we show that exoerythrocytic P. berghei parasites express a potent cysteine protease inhibitor (PbICP, P.

The "SARS-unique domain" (SUD) of SARS coronavirus is an oligo(G)-binding protein.

Caused by a new coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a highly contagious disease associated with significant fatality that emerged in 2003. The molecular cause of the unusually high human pathogenicity of the SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV) is still unknown. In an effort to characterize molecular components of the virus that are absent in other coronaviruses, all of which are considerably less pathogenic for humans, we recombinantly produced the SARS-unique domain (SUD) within non-structural protein 3 (Nsp3) of SARS-CoV and characterized its nucleic-acid binding properties.

Structural and functional characterization of Falcipain-2, a hemoglobinase from the malarial parasite Plasmodium falciparum.

Malaria is caused by protozoan erythrocytic parasites of the Plasmodium genus, with Plasmodium falciparum being the most dangerous and widespread disease-causing species. Falcipain-2 (FP-2) of P. falciparum is a papain-family (C1A) cysteine protease that plays an important role in the parasite life cycle by degrading erythrocyte proteins, most notably hemoglobin.