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Nepenthesin

Aspartic protease found in some plants

Nepenthesin

Aspartic protease found in some plants

FieldValue
NameNepenthesin
EC_number3.4.23.12
CAS_number9073-80-7
Leaf of a Drosera peltata with a captured ant. Royal National Park, NSW Australia, August 2011.

| Leaf of a Drosera peltata with a captured ant. Royal National Park, NSW Australia, 2011.]] Nepenthesin (also spelled nepenthacin or nepenthasin) is an aspartic protease of plant origin that has so far been identified in the pitcher secretions of Nepenthes and in the leaves of Drosera peltata. It is similar to pepsin, but differs in that it also cleaves on either side of Asp residues and at Lys┼Arg. While more pH and temperature stable than porcine pepsin A, it is considerably less stable in urea or guanidine hydrochloride. It is the only known protein with such a stability profile.

The name nepenthesin was coined in 1968 by Shigeru Nakayama and Shizuko Amagase. Alternative names for this enzyme include Nepenthes acid proteinase and Nepenthes aspartic proteinase. Two isozymes have been identified in Nepenthes: nepenthesin I and nepenthesin II. The production of large quantities of nepenthesin-1 through heterologous expression in Escherichia coli was described in 2014.

The names cephalotusin, dionaeasin and droserasin have been proposed for similar aspartic endopeptidases originating from the carnivorous plant genera Cephalotus, Dionaea and Drosera, respectively.

Discovery

In the late 19th century, Sydney Howard Vines showed that the pitcher fluid from Nepenthes could digest protein in acidic conditions. He suggested the plants were making a digestive enzyme, for which he proposed the name "nepenthin". In the late 1960s, Josef Weigl's group in Germany and Shizuko Amagase's group in Japan each used chromatography to purify the proteolytic activity from several Nepenthes species, finding it to be most active at pH 2–3. Amagase and Shigeru Nakayama proposed the name "Nepenthesin" for the responsible protease(s). In 1998, Kenji Takahashi's group purified protein from 30 liters of Nepenthesia distillatoria fluid, finding activity similar to that previously described, and reporting part of the nepenthesin amino acid sequence.

References

References

  1. (June 2000). "The enduring controversies concerning the process of protein digestion in ''Nepenthes'' (Nepenthaceae)". Carnivorous Plant Newsletter.
  2. (September 1967). "[Purification of the proteinase from Nepenthes pitcher secretion]". Planta.
  3. (1968). "Acid protease in ''Nepenthes'': Partial purification and properties of the enzyme". Proceedings of the Japan Academy.
  4. (March 2014). "Expression and characterization of plant aspartic protease nepenthesin-1 from ''Nepenthes gracilis''". Protein Expression and Purification.
  5. (April 1972). "Enzymes from carnivorous plants (nepenthes). Isolation of the protease nepenthacin". FEBS Lett..
  6. (1989). "The enzymes from carnivorous plants (''Nepenthes''): Properties and characterization of the acid protease nepenthacin". Planta Medica.
  7. Integrated Enzyme Database (IntEnz)]].
  8. (October 1969). "Acid protease in ''Nepenthes''. II. Study on the specificity of nepenthesin". J. Biochem..
  9. (July 1972). "Digestive enzymes in insectivorous plants. 3. Acid proteases in the genus ''Nepenthes'' and ''Drosera peltata''". J. Biochem..
  10. (September 1972). "Digestive enzymes in insectivorous plants. IV. Enzymatic digestion of insects by ''Nepenthes'' secretion and ''Drosera peltata'' extract: proteolytic and chitinolytic activities". J. Biochem..
  11. (March 1974). "Digestive enzymes secreted by the carnivorous plant ''Nepenthes macferlanei'' L". Planta.
  12. (1998). "Aspartic proteinases: retroviral and cellular enzymes". Plenum.
  13. (2007). "Variations in the content and isozymic composition of nepenthesin in the pitcher fluids among ''Nepenthes'' species". Carnivorous Plant Newsletter.
  14. (2012). "The digestive fluid of ''Drosera indica'' contains a cysteine endopeptidase ("droserain") similar to dionain from ''Dionaea muscipula''". Carnivorous Plant Newsletter.
  15. (July 2004). "Enzymic and structural characterization of nepenthesin, a unique member of a novel subfamily of aspartic proteinases". Biochem. J..
  16. (2010). "Stability Profiles of Nepenthesin in Urea and Guanidine Hydrochloride: Comparison with Porcine Pepsin A". Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Biochemistry.
  17. (February 2018). "Acid Protease in ''Nepenthes'': Partial Purification and Properties of the Enzyme". Proceedings of the Japan Academy.
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