Cysteine Cathepsin Activity Regulation by Glycosaminoglycans

Figure 2

Interactions between human cathepsin K and GAGs. (a) Crystal structure of the cathepsin K/chondroitin-4-sulfate (C4S) complex. The protein is shown in cartoon representation and C4S is shown as sticks. (b) Conformational change in C4S upon binding to cathepsin K. (c) Detailed representation of the interaction in panel (a). C4S is shown as sticks. The backbone of cathepsin K is shown as ribbons and residues that interact with C4S are shown as sticks. (d) Location of the predicted second heparin-binding site in cathepsin K. Positively charged residues proposed to interact with heparin are shown as blue sticks. For orientation, C4S bound at the first binding site is shown as sticks. The position of the active site cleft is marked by an arrow. Coordinates of the cathepsin K/C4S complex were retrieved from the Protein Data Bank under accession code 3C9E. The solution structure of C4S was modeled using data from [14]. All images were created with PyMOL.

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