Aspartyl Proteinases of Eukaryotic Microbial Pathogens: From Eating to Heating
Fig 2
The SAP family of C. albicans contains at least ten proteins with a signal peptide and are secreted, except Sap9 and Sap10, which remain bound to the cell wall.
They are characterized by broad spectrum proteolytic ability and virulence properties that are reported to be differentially expressed at different stages and forms of fungus growth and disease. Sap2 (alike Sap1 and Sap3) is active at acidic pH and is dominantly associated with yeast form of growth while Sap6 (alike Sap4 and Sap5) is more active at neutral to slightly alkaline pH Together with the dominant Sap5, Sap6 has been associated with hyphal growth. For details, see [7] and [28].