This thesis is an investigation of the role of the prosegment (PS) of pepsinogen in the binding, refolding and inhibition of pepsin. Native pepsin (Np) is irreversibly denatured, and folds to a stable, non-native state under refolding conditions, termed refolded pepsin (Rp) (Dee and Yada 2010). When added separately, the PS binds Rp, catalyzes folding to the native-like state and inhibits Np (Dee and Yada 2010). It was hypothesized, owing to the high sequence conservation, that N-terminal PS residues are critical to PS catalyzed folding. Synthetic peptides of N-terminal truncations (N16, N29), C-terminal truncations (C15, C28), and full length, wild-type (Wt) PS were examined. N-terminal residues were required for binding to Rp and catalyzing folding, while both N29 and C28 truncations had similar inhibition constants. Remarkably, the foldase activity of N-terminal truncation (N29) was only 2.5 fold slower than Wt, supporting that PS foldase activity is stored almost entirely within the highly conserved N29 region.

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.