Revealing the inhibitory potential of Yersinia enterocolitica on cysteine proteases of the papain family

Publication date: Available online 8 December 2017 Source:Microbiological Research Author(s): Mateusz Kędzior, Aleksandra Pawlak, Rafał Seredyński, Jacek Bania, Aleksandra Platt-Samoraj, Magdalena Czemplik, Elżbieta Klausa, Gabriela Bugla-Płoskońska, Jan Gutowicz Cysteine proteases of the papain family, including mammalian cathepsins, play important physiological roles, however, their excessive activity may contribute to the development of various pathologies. Therefore, cysteine cathepsin inhibitors are being considered as promising drugs to treat cathepsin-driven diseases. Diverse saprophytic and parasitic microbes produce such inhibitors, which target the host's proteases playing pivotal roles in immune responses, thus leading to the survival of microbes within their host. Yersinia enterocolitica is a Gram-negative zoopathogenic coccobacillus, which has developed several mechanisms to evade the host's immune system. Nevertheless, the bacterium has not yet been shown to produce any cysteine protease inhibitors. Here we demonstrate that Y. enterocolitica strains of different bioserotypes and genotypes synthesize papain and human cathepsin L inhibitors, but not bovine cathepsin B inhibitors. By employing fluorimetry and zymography, the cell-surface inhibitors were shown to associate peripherally with the outer membrane, while the inhibitors present in cell-free extracts proved to: interact reversibly with their target enzymes, exhibit thermolability and stabi...
Source: Microbiological Research - Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: research