Publication
The effects of a variety of inhibitors suggested that the promastigote surface protease (PSP) of Leishmania might be a Zn metalloprotease. To investigate this possibility, at. emission and absorption spectroscopic analyses were conducted which showed that PSP contains 1 atom of Zn per 63-kilodalton (kDa) monomer. Further studies showed that the enzyme could be biosynthetically labeled with 65ZnCl2. The comparison of the amino acid sequence of L. major PSP with 9 other Zn metalloproteases revealed significant similarity in the area of their Zn-binding sites. These data showed clearly that the promastigote surface protease of Leishmania is a Zn metalloprotease. Secondary structure anal. by CD spectroscopy indicated that PSP contained >40% b-strand and