Proteases are a diverse and important group of enzymes representing >2% of the human, chimpanzee, mouse and rat genomes. This group of enzymes is implicated in numerous physiological processes. The importance of proteases is illustrated by the existence of 80 different hereditary diseases due to mutations in protease genes. Furthermore, proteases have been implicated in multiple human pathologies, including vascular diseases, rheumatoid arthritis, neurodegenerative processes, and cancer. During the last ten years, our laboratory has identified and characterized more than 60 human protease genes. Due to the importance of proteolytic enzymes in human physiology and pathology, we have recently introduced the concept of Degradome, as the complete repertoire of proteases expressed by a tissue or organism. Thanks to the recent completion of the human, chimpanzee, mouse, and rat genome sequencing projects, we were able to analyze and compare for the first time the complete protease repertoire in those mammalian organisms, as well as the complement of protease inhibitor genes. This webpage is a repository of this information, as described in The Degradome database: mammalian proteases and diseases of proteolysis Nucleic Acids Res (2008). ... [Information of the supplier]
