Disulfide bond formation in the ECM
I wish to advertise a newly-discovered family of enzymes involved in
disulfide bond formation in secreted proteins and peptides. My hope is
that someone in the C. elegans community might be interested in
following them up.
These sulfhydryl oxidases are found in all multicellular organisms.
They are not found in yeast. The human counterparts have been called
"bone-derived growth factor", "cell inhibitory factor" and "quiescin".
C. elegans has 3 such sulfhydryl oxidases genes Z69637, U80848, U39646.
Their roles are unknown. Circumstantial (non-knock-out) evidence in
mammals suggests involvement in ECM formation and differentiation, in
spermatogenesis, and in secretion of peptides and proteins.
For a recent review on these enzymes, and some nice pictures of cellular
distribution in human tissues, see:
"Sulfhydryl oxidases: emerging catalysts of protein disulfide bond
formation in eukaryotes" (2002) Thorpe et al. Archives of Biochemistry
and Biophysics 405, 1-12.
Thank you.
Colin Thorpe
Professor of Biochemistry
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
University of Delaware
Newark, Delaware 19716
Phone: (302) 831-2689 (FAX -6335)
http://www.udel.edu/chem/thorpe/
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