Tetrapeptide substrates for the discrimination among kallikreins and other trypsin-like serine proteinases

The three tetrapeptides Ac-Phe-Arg-Arg-Val-NH2 (I), Ac-Phe-Arg-Arg-Pro-NH2 (II) and Ac-Phe-Lys-Arg-Val-NH2 (III) were shown to form a most convenient substrate system for the discrimination of the serine proteinases listed below. Tissue kallikreins (porcine pancreatic, horse and human urinary) have the unique feature of cleaving well the Arg-Arg bond in peptide I (P'2 = Val), hardly splitting it in peptide II (P'2 = Pro). The kcat/Km for the hydrolysis of peptide II by horse urinary kallikrein was 600-fold lower than that for peptide I. Trypsin, plasma kallikreins (human and rat), tonin and rat urinary kallikrein were distinguished from each other by the sequence of the N-terminal fragments formed in the hydrolysis of peptides I and/or II. Differences in the cleavage sites in these peptides are explained by differences in the specificities of the proteinase subsite S2 and/or in their preference for Arg or Lys residues. The three tetrapeptides were not substrates for plasmin.