Proteolytic activity in Caenorhabditis elegans : soluble and insoluble fractions

Abstract

Proteolytic activities of soluble and insoluble fractions of the free-living soil nematode Caenorhabditis elegans were measured across a range of substrates, temperatures and pH conditions. Several protease inhibitors were also tested under these conditions. Results of these studies indicate that proteolytic activity is present in cytosolic (CF) and non-cytosolic (NCF) fractions of C. elegans extracts at every condition of pH, temperature and buffer assayed. On the other hand, the use of different protease inhibitors demonstrated the existence of exo and endoproteases types in CF as well as NCF. Moreover our results show that the use of two protease inhibitor mixed types proposed by several authors are not enough to avoid this lytic activity when homogenates of this nematode are employed in biochemical assays.