 |
2 December 1999. The October report in Science by Vassar and colleagues
idetifying β-secretase, (see below) has now been followed up by three
more reports this month identifying the BACE enzyme (or ASP2, as it has
been termed by two of the groups)-one in the online journal Molecular
and Cellular Neuroscience and two in Nature. Writing a News and Views
article in Nature, Bart De Strooper and Gerhard Koenig welcome the new
reports because the researchers took varied paths to get to the same
point, helping to confirm the earlier reported results. For example, Yan
and colleagues scanned the C elegans genome for aspartyl-protease-like
gene products and then looked in the vertebrate genome for homologues of
the proteases they had found. Sinha and colleagues took a classical
protein fractionation approach to arrive at the same molecule, designing
a transition state analogue that could "hook" or "freeze" the BACE
molecule in the act of cleaving its substrate.-Hakon Heimer.
References:
Hussain I, Powell D, Howlett DR, Tew DG, Meek TD, Chapman C, Gloger IS, Murphy KE, Southan CD, Ryan DM, Smith TS, Simmons DL, Walsh FS, Dingwall C, Christie G. Identification of a novel aspartic protease (Asp 2) as β-secretase. Mol Cell Neurosci 1999 Dec;14:419-27. Abstract
Yan R, Bienkowski MJ, Shuck ME, Miao H, Tory MC, Pauley AM, Brashier JR, Stratman NC, Mathews WR, Buhl AE, Carter DB, Tomasselli AG, Parodi LA, Heinrikson RL, Gurney ME.
Nature. 2 Dec 1999;402:533-7. Abstract
Sinha S, Anderson JP, Barbour R, Basi GS, Caccavello R, Davis D, Doan M, Dovey HF, Frigon N, Hong J, Jacobson-Croak K, Jewett N, Keim P, Knops J, Lieberburg I, Power M, Tan H, Tatsuno G, Tung J, Schenk D, Seubert P, Suomensaari SM, Wang S, Walker D, John V, et al. Purification and cloning of amyloid precursor protein beta-secretase from human brain. Nature 1999 Dec 2;402:537-40. Abstract
De Strooper B, Koenig G. Nature. 2 Dec 1999;402:571-2. Abstract
|
|
Home
Identification of a novel aspartic protease (Asp 2) as beta-secretase.
