Comparative analysis of degradomes in unicellular malaria parasite and free-living ciliates

Proteases play diverse and important roles in metabolic regulation, gene regulatory networks and protein-protein interactions. The complete sequencing of the genomes of three unicellular organisms: malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum, and the two free-living ciliates Tetrahymena thermophila and Paramecium tetraurelia has opened a new window to study the proteolytic machinery in a large scale systems context. This paper reports a comprehensive survey and analysis of the degradomes (the complete repertoire of proteases) of these organisms. The catalog of proteases with specific enzymatic functions can serve as a starting point for a systems level understanding of the cellular networks involving proteolytic activities.