A Strong Neutrophil Elastase Proteolytic Fingerprint Marks the Carcinoma Tumor Proteome.

Proteolytic cascades are deeply involved in critical stages of cancer progression. During the course of peptide-wise analysis of shotgun proteomic data sets representative of colon adenocarcinoma (AC) and ulcerative colitis (UC), we detected a cancer-specific proteolytic fingerprint composed of a set of numerous protein fragments cleaved C-terminally to V, I, A, T, or C residues, significantly overrepresented in AC. A peptide set linked by a common VIATC cleavage consensus was the only prominent cancer-specific proteolytic fingerprint detected.

Structural Dynamics of the Vimentin Coiled-coil Contact Regions Involved in Filament Assembly as Revealed by Hydrogen-Deuterium Exchange.

Intermediate filaments (IF) are major constituents of the cytoskeleton of metazoan cells. They are not only responsible for the mechanical properties but also for various physiological activities in different cells and tissues. The building blocks of IFs are extended coiled-coil-forming proteins exhibiting a characteristic central α-helical domain ("rod").

Parvulin 17-catalyzed Tubulin Polymerization Is Regulated by Calmodulin in a Calcium-dependent Manner.

Recently we have shown that the peptidyl-prolyl cis/trans isomerase parvulin 17 (Par17) interacts with tubulin in a GTP-dependent manner, thereby promoting the formation of microtubules. Microtubule assembly is regulated by Ca(2+)-loaded calmodulin (Ca(2+)/CaM) both in the intact cell and under in vitro conditions via direct interaction with microtubule-associated proteins. Here we provide the first evidence that Ca(2+)/CaM interacts also with Par17 in a physiologically relevant way, thus preventing Par17-promoted microtubule assembly.

Global analysis of S-nitrosylation sites in the wild type (APP) transgenic mouse brain-clues for synaptic pathology.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by an early synaptic loss, which strongly correlates with the severity of dementia. The pathogenesis and causes of characteristic AD symptoms are not fully understood. Defects in various cellular cascades were suggested, including the imbalance in production of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species.

The ClpXP protease is responsible for the degradation of the Epsilon antidote to the Zeta toxin of the streptococcal pSM19035 plasmid.

Most bacterial genomes contain different types of toxin-antitoxin (TA) systems. The ω-ε-ζ proteinaceous type II TA cassette from the streptococcal pSM19035 plasmid is a member of the ε/ζ family, which is commonly found in multiresistance plasmids and chromosomes of various human pathogens. Regulation of type II TA systems relies on the proteolysis of antitoxin proteins.