Extracellular trypsin-like proteases produced by Cordyceps militaris

A trypsin-like protease, P-1-1, was purified from the culture supernatant of the fungus Cordyceps militaris by (NH(4))(2)SO(4) precipitation, chromatography on DEAE Bio-Gel Agarose, TSKgel CM-5PW, and gel-filtration with HiLoad 26/60 Superdex 75 pg, and its properties were examined. Purified P-1-1 showed a single band by SDS-PAGE and was estimated to have a molecular mass of 23,405 by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS). The optimum pH of the enzyme was between 8.5 and 12.0. It was inhibited strongly by leupeptin and diisopropyl fluorophosphate (DFP), and definitely did by N(alpha)-tosyl-L-lysine chloromethyl ketone hydrochloride (TLCK), phenylmethanesulfonyl fluoride (PMSF) and chymostatin. The carbonyl group sides of Arg and Lys were confirmed as the sites of cleavage by the enzyme toward cecropin B. These results indicate that P-1-1 is a trypsin-type serine protease. The N-terminal amino acid sequence of P-1-1 showed a high homology with those of trypsins or chymotrypsin derived from Diptera insects.