Proteinases inTrichomonas vaginalisandTritrichomonas mobilensisare not exclusively of cysteine type

Abstract

SUMMARYHigh molecular weight proteinases ofTrichomonas vaginalis(with apparentMrvalues 142 and > 220 kDa) andTritrichomonas mobilensis(Mr67, 86, 104 and 120 kDa), optimally active at pH 8, were analysed in gelatin-containing polyacrylamide gels. All of these proteinases were resistant to serine-, aspartic- as well as cysteine proteinase inhibitors. Both proteolytic bands inT. vaginalisand two proteinases inT. mobilensis(67 and 104 kDa) were inhibited by EDTA and EGTA suggesting that they belong to the metallo-proteinase class. The 67 kDa proteinase ofT. mobilensiswas inhibited also byo-phenanthroline. The other two bands ofT. mobilensis(86, 120 kDa) were not classified to any proteinase group since they appeared to be resistant to the chelating agents tested in this study.