title: [Cruzipain, major cysteine proteinase of Trypanosoma cruzi: sequence and genomic organization of the codifying genes].
abstract: Cruzipain is the major cysteine proteinase present in Trypanosoma cruzi, the parasite causing the American Trypanosomiasis, Chagas disease. The enzyme is encoded by a high number of genes (up to 130 in the Tul 2 stock) placed in head-to-tail tandems, and located in two to four chromosomes. The simultaneous expression of several different genes results in the production of a complex mixture of isoforms. Those known as a group as "cruzipain 1" differ essentially at the level of the C-terminal domain, in their amino-acid sequence and in their type of N-glycosylation. The existence of a more distantly related cysteine proteinase, "cruzipain 2", has been demonstrated; it differs markedly, particularly at the level of the catalytic moiety.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas, Universidad Nacional de General San Martín, Provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina. jcazzulo@iib.unsam.edu.ar
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Cazzulo
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D003546:Cysteine Endopeptidases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D018503:Genome, Protozoan; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D015800:Protozoan Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D014349:Trypanosoma cruzi / Q000201:enzymology*
chemical_list: D015800:Protozoan Proteins; D003546:Cysteine Endopeptidases; C063214:cruzipain