Proteases are hydrolases found in plants, animals and microorganisms. They enable intracellular and extracellular degradation of proteins. In general, proteases divided into four major groups: metalloproteases, aspartatic, serine and cysteine proteases. The activity of the latter is controlled by their endogenous inhibitors, the most common being
cystatins, thyropins, and α2-macroglobulin. Among the best characterized cysteine proteases are caspases. They are present in cells as procaspases in an inactive form and depend on autoproteolytic cleavage and dimerization for their activity.
Metacaspases are the only caspase homologues that besides the p20 domain also contain the p10 domain. Unlike caspases, metacaspases do not require oligomerization for their catalytic activity. These proteases are found in fungi, protozoa and plants. They participate in the process of programmed cell death and regulate cellular homeostasis.
Depending on the position of the p20 and p10 domains in the polypeptide chain, type I, type II and, the least studied, type III metacaspases are known.
The aim of this study was to determine to what extent various inhibitors inhibit the activity of each of the three metacaspase types. For this we used a type II metacaspase, CrMC2, from the algae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and type I metacaspase, GtMC1, and type III metacaspase, GtMC2, from the algae Guillardia theta. As inhibitors antipain, leupeptin,
E-64, FFR-CMK, Z-VAD-FMK, PMSF and serpin were tested. Enzyme activity measurements were performed at pH 8.0 in the presence of calcium ions. The activity of enzymes was monitored by fluorescence measurement using FR-AMC as the substrate.
The results showed that all inhibitors but serpin exhibited similar inhibition towards each of the three metacaspase types. Serpin, on the other hand, effectively inhibited only the activity of GtMC1. FFR-CMK was the most potent inhibitor for all three metacaspase types, followed by antipain and leuepeptin. PMSF, E-64 and Z-VAD exhibited little inhibitory effect towards any of the three metacaspase types.
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