چکیده (انگلیسی):

Carnivorous plants represent a so far underexploited reservoir of novel proteases with potentially useful
activities. Here we investigate 44 cysteine proteases from the Cape sundew, Drosera capensis, predicted from
genomic DNA sequences. D. capensis has a large number of cysteine protease genes; analysis of their sequences
reveals homologs of known plant proteases, some of which are predicted to have novel properties. Many
functionally significant sequence and structural features are observed, including targeting signals and occluding
loops. Several of the proteases contain a new type of granulin domain. Although active site residues are conserved,
the sequence identity of these proteases to known proteins is moderate to low; therefore, comparative
modeling with all-atom refinement and subsequent atomistic MD-simulation is used to predict their 3D
structures. The structure prediction data, as well as analysis of protein structure networks, suggest multifarious
variations on the papain-like cysteine protease structural theme. This in silico methodology provides a general
framework for investigating a large pool of sequences that are potentially useful for biotechnology applications,
enabling informed choices about which proteins to investigate in the laboratory.