@article{
author = "Božić, Nataša and Ivanović, J. and Nenadović, V. and Bergström, J. and Larsson, T. and Vujčić, Zoran",
year = "2008",
abstract = "The major leucyl aminopeptidase (LAP) from the midgut of Morimus funereus larvae was purified and characterised. Specific LAP activity was increased 292-fold by purification of the crude midgut extract. The purified enzyme had a pH optimum of 7.5 (optimum pH range 7.0-8.5) and preferentially hydrolysed p-nitroanilides containing hydrophobic amino acids in the active site, with the highest Vmax / KM ratio for leucine-p-nitroanilide (LpNA). Among a number of inhibitors tested, the most efficient were 1,10-phenanthroline having a Ki value of 0.12 mM and cysteine with Ki value of 0.31 mM, while EGTA stimulated LAP activity. Zn2+, Mg2+ and Mn2+ all showed bi-modal effects on LAP activity (activated at low concentrations and inhibited at high concentrations). The purified LAP (after gel filtration on Superose 6 column) had molecular mass of 400 kDa with an isoelectric point of 6.2. Sodium dodecylsulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) revealed one band of 67 kDa, suggesting that the enzyme is a hexamer. Six peptide sequences from protein band were obtained using ESI/MS-MS analysis. Comparison of the obtained peptide sequences with the EMBL-EBI sequence analysis toolbox and the BLASTP database showed a high degree of identity with other insect aminopeptidases.",
publisher = "Elsevier Science Inc, New York",
journal = "Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology - B Biochemistry and Molecular Biology",
title = "Purification and properties of major midgut leucyl aminopeptidase of Morimus funereus (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae) larvae",
volume = "149",
number = "3",
pages = "454-462",
doi = "10.1016/j.cbpb.2007.11.006"
}