Substrate specificity profiling of heat-sensitive serine protease from the fungus Onygena corvina

Proteases catalyze hydrolysis of amide bonds within peptides and proteins, therefore they play crucial functions for organism functioning, but also in industry to facilitate numerous processes. Feather-degrading fungus Onygena corvina (O. corvina) is loaded with numerous proteases that can be utilized for variety of applications. The most active species of these enzymes is heat-sensitive serine protease (NHSSP), from O. corvina fungi and due to its potential applications in industry is an alternative to proteinase K. The uniqueness of NHSSP relies on the ability of this enzyme to hydrolyze peptides at neutral to acidic pH values between 5.0 and 8.5, with an optimum of 6.8 and a temperature activity ranging from 15 to 50 °C making NHSSP exceptionally universal enzyme.

Thus, we have performed the in-depth characterization of NHSSP substrate specificity by using a positional scanning substrate combinatorial library (PS-SCL). Afterward, we obtained a set of fluorescent substrates hydrolyzed by NHSSP that served as a leading sequence for the first tailored covalent inhibitor of this enzyme, containing a diphenylphosphonate as a warhead and MeOSuc amine protecting group. Our first inhibitor for NHSSP binds potently with target protease and is a tool for future study of this enzyme functions.