A bio-informatics study of the c25 cysteine protease family

The oral pathogen Porphyromonas gingivalis is recognized as one of the major aetiological agents of chronic periodontitis. The gingipains, which are the principal virulence factors of P. gingivalis, are multi-domain proteins containing an N-terminal C25 cysteine protease domain. We have conducted a bio-informatics study of the C25 cysteine protease domains and have identified related domains in over two thousand proteins from 739 organisms in 35 distinct phyla. Proteins having significant similarity to the gingipain C25 cysteine protease domain are also found in Gram +ve bacteria, Archaea, algae, higher fungi, and a wide variety of Eukaryotic species.