Huntington J A, Carrell R W
University of Cambridge, Department of Haematology, Wellcome Trust Centre for Molecular Mechanisms in Disease, Wellcome Trust/MRC Building, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 2XY, UK.
Sci Prog. 2001;84(Pt 2):125-36. doi: 10.3184/003685001783239032.
A special family of inhibitors, known as the serpins, has evolved an extraordinary mechanism to enable the control of the proteolytic pathways essential to life. The serpins undergo a profound change in conformation to entrap their target protease in an irreversible complex. The solving of the structure of this complex now completes a video depiction of the changes involved. The serpin, just like a mousetrap, is seen to change with a spring-like movement from an initial metastable state to a final hyperstable form. The structure shows how this conformational shift not only inhibits the protease but also destroys it. A bonus from these structural insights is the realisation that a number of diseases, as diverse as thrombosis, cirrhosis and dementia, all share a common mechanism arising from similar mutations of different serpins.
一类特殊的抑制剂家族,即丝氨酸蛋白酶抑制剂(serpins),已经进化出一种非凡的机制来控制对生命至关重要的蛋白水解途径。丝氨酸蛋白酶抑制剂会经历构象的深刻变化,将其靶蛋白酶捕获在不可逆的复合物中。该复合物结构的解析现在完成了对所涉及变化的动态描述。丝氨酸蛋白酶抑制剂就像一个捕鼠器,被观察到以类似弹簧的运动从初始的亚稳态转变为最终的超稳态形式。该结构展示了这种构象转变不仅如何抑制蛋白酶,还如何将其破坏。这些结构见解带来的额外收获是认识到许多疾病,如血栓形成、肝硬化和痴呆症,都有一个共同的机制,该机制源于不同丝氨酸蛋白酶抑制剂的类似突变。