The world's first wiki where authorship really matters (Nature Genetics, 2008). Due credit and reputation for authors. Imagine a global collaborative knowledge base for original thoughts. Search thousands of articles and collaborate with scientists around the globe.

wikigene or wiki gene protein drug chemical gene disease author authorship tracking collaborative publishing evolutionary knowledge reputation system wiki2.0 global collaboration genes proteins drugs chemicals diseases compound
Hoffmann, R. A wiki for the life sciences where authorship matters. Nature Genetics (2008)
 
 
 
 
 

The arterivirus Nsp2 protease. An unusual cysteine protease with primary structure similarities to both papain-like and chymotrypsin-like proteases.

The replicase ORF1a polyprotein of equine arteritis virus, a positive-stranded RNA virus, is proteolytically processed into (at least) six nonstructural proteins (Nsp). A papain-like Cys protease in Nsp1 and a chymotrypsin-like Ser protease in Nsp4 are involved in this process. In this paper we demonstrate that the Nsp2/3 junction is not cleaved by either of these previously described proteases. Comparative sequence analysis suggested that an additional Cys protease resided in the N-terminal Nsp2 domain. For equine arteritis virus, this domain was shown to induce Nsp2/3 cleavage in a trans-cleavage assay. Processing was abolished when the putative active site residues, Cys-270 and His-332, were replaced. Other Nsp2 domains and three other conserved Cys residues were also shown to be essential. The Nsp2 Cys protease displays sequence similarity with viral papain-like proteases. However, the presumed catalytic Cys-270 is followed by a conserved Gly rather than the characteristic Trp. Replacement of Gly-271 by Trp abolished the Nsp2/3 cleavage. Conservation of a Cys-Gly dipeptide is a hallmark of viral chymotrypsin-like Cys proteases. Thus, the arterivirus Nsp2 protease is an unusual Cys protease with amino acid sequence similarities to both papain-like and chymotrypsin-like proteases.[1]

References

 
WikiGenes - Universities