Protein processing mechanisms: from angiotensin-converting enzyme to Alzheimer's disease
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 13, 2026

Imaging the Intracellular Trafficking of APP with Photoactivatable GFP
Published on: October 17, 2015
1Proteolysis Research Group, School of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, U.K. n.m.hooper@leeds.ac.uk
Abstract:
Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) and the Alzheimer's disease amyloid precursor protein are two examples of membrane-bound proteins that are released in a soluble form by a post-translational proteolytic cleavage event involving a secretase. Site-specific antibodies and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time-of-flight ('MALDI-TOF') MS have been used to map the secretase cleavage site in somatic ACE to Arg-1203/Ser-1204, 24 residues proximal to the membrane-anchoring domain. Trypsin, which can solubilize ACE from the membrane, cleaves the protein at the same site. The use of structurally related hydroxamic acid-based zinc metalloproteinase inhibitors indicate that tumour necrosis factor-alpha convertase, a member of the ADAMs ('a disintegrin and metalloproteinase') family of proteins, is not involved in the proteolytic release of ACE, or in the constitutive or regulated alpha-secretase release of the amyloid precursor protein from a human neuronal cell line.
Related Concept Videos
Alzheimer Disease ll: Pathophysiology
Amyloid Fibrils
Amyloid deposits were observed as early as 1639 in the liver and the spleen. In 1854, Rudolph Virchow performed iodine staining, normally used to...
Alzheimer Disease l: Introduction
Alzheimer's Disease: Overview
The clinical diagnosis of AD hinges on the presence of memory and other cognitive impairments. Biomarkers, such as changes in Aβ and tau...
The Proteasome
In this pathway, the target proteins are first tagged with small proteins called ubiquitin. A series of enzymes carry out the ubiquitination of the target proteins - E1 (ubiquitin-activating enzyme), E2 (ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme), and E3...
The Proteasome
In this pathway, the target proteins are first tagged with small proteins called ubiquitin. This involves participation of a series of enzymes including— E1 (ubiquitin-activating enzyme), E2 (ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme), and E3 (ubiquitin...

