Molecular Properties and New Potentials of Plant Nepenthesins
Open Access
- 29 April 2020
- Vol. 9 (5), 570
- https://doi.org/10.3390/plants9050570
Abstract
Nepenthesins are aspartic proteases (APs) categorized under the A1B subfamily. Due to nepenthesin-specific sequence features, the A1B subfamily is also named nepenthesin-type aspartic proteases (NEPs). Nepenthesins are mostly known from the pitcher fluid of the carnivorous plant Nepenthes, where they are availed for the hydrolyzation of insect protein required for the assimilation of insect nitrogen resources. However, nepenthesins are widely distributed within the plant kingdom and play significant roles in plant species other than Nepenthes. Although they have received limited attention when compared to other members of the subfamily, current data indicates that they have exceptional molecular and biochemical properties and new potentials as fungal-resistance genes. In the current review, we provide insights into the current knowledge on the molecular and biochemical properties of plant nepenthesins and highlights that future focus on them may have strong potentials for industrial applications and crop trait improvement.Keywords
This publication has 71 references indexed in Scilit:
- Nepenthesin from Monkey Cups for Hydrogen/Deuterium Exchange Mass SpectrometryMolecular & Cellular Proteomics, 2013
- Oral Enzyme Therapy for Celiac SprueMethods in Enzymology, 2011
- Tri6 Is a Global Transcription Regulator in the Phytopathogen Fusarium graminearumPLoS Pathogens, 2011
- Stability Profiles of Nepenthesin in Urea and Guanidine Hydrochloride: Comparison with Porcine Pepsin ABioscience, Biotechnology, and Biochemistry, 2010
- Hydrogen exchange mass spectrometry: what is it and what can it tell us?Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, 2010
- Aspartic proteases gene family in rice: Gene structure and expression, predicted protein features and phylogenetic relationGene, 2009
- Fusarium Tri4 encodes a key multifunctional cytochrome P450 monooxygenase for four consecutive oxygenation steps in trichothecene biosynthesisBiochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, 2007
- Evolutionary ecology of carnivorous plantsTrends in Ecology & Evolution, 2001
- SWISS‐MODEL and the Swiss‐Pdb Viewer: An environment for comparative protein modelingElectrophoresis, 1997
- Enzymes from carnivorous plants (nepenthes). Isolation of the protease nepenthacinFEBS Letters, 1972