The Proteolysis Map

The Proteolysis MAP (PMAP) is an integrated web resource focused on proteases.

Rationale

PMAP is to aid the protease researchers in reasoning about proteolytic networks and metabolic pathways.

History and funding

PMAP was originally created at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research, La Jolla, California. In 2004 the National Institutes of Health (NIH) selected a team led by Jeffrey W. Smith, to establish the Center on Proteolytic Pathways (CPP). As part of the NIH Roadmap for Biomedical research, the center develops technology to study the behavior of proteins and to disburse that knowledge to the scientific community at large.

Focal point

Proteases are a class of enzymes that regulate much of what happens in the human body, both inside the cell and out, by cleaving peptide bonds in proteins. Through this activity, they govern the four essential cell functions: differentiation, motility, division and cell death — and activate important extracellular episodes, such as the biochemical cascade effect in blood clotting. Simply stated, life could not exist without them. Extensive on-line classification system for proteases (also referred as peptidases) is deposited in the MEROPS database.