A disintegrin and metalloproteinase with thrombospondin motifs 8 is an enzyme

Enzyme

Enzymes are proteins that catalyze chemical reactions. In enzymatic reactions, the molecules at the beginning of the process, called substrates, are converted into different molecules, called products. Almost all chemical reactions in a biological cell need enzymes in order to occur at rates...

 that in humans is encoded by the ADAMTS8 gene

Gene

A gene is a molecular unit of heredity of a living organism. It is a name given to some stretches of DNA and RNA that code for a type of protein or for an RNA chain that has a function in the organism. Living beings depend on genes, as they specify all proteins and functional RNA chains...

.

Function

This gene encodes a member of the ADAMTS (a disintegrin and metalloproteinase with thrombospondin motifs) protein family. Members of the family share several distinct protein modules, including a propeptide region, a metalloproteinase

Metalloproteinase

Metalloproteinases constitute a family of enzymes from the group of proteases, classified by the nature of the most prominent functional group in their active site. These are proteolytic enzymes whose catalytic mechanism involves a metal. Most metalloproteases are zinc-dependent, but some use...

 domain, a disintegrin

Disintegrin

Disintegrins are a family of small proteins from viper venoms that function as potent inhibitors of both platelet aggregation and integrin-dependent cell adhesion....

-like domain, and a thrombospondin

Thrombospondin

Thrombospondins are secreted proteins with antiangiogenic abilities. TSP was discovered by Nancy L. Baenziger.-Types:The thrombospondins are a family of multifunctional proteins...

 type 1 (TS) motif. Individual members of this family differ in the number of C-terminal TS motifs, and some have unique C-terminal domains. The enzyme encoded by this gene contains two C-terminal TS motifs, and disrupts angiogenesis in vivo.

Clinical significance

A number of disorders have been mapped in the vicinity of this gene, most notably lung neoplasms.

External Links

• The MEROPS
  Merops
  Merops may refer to:* Merops , a genus of bee-eaters.* MEROPS, an on-line database for peptidases.It may also refer to several figures from Greek mythology:* King of Ethiopia, husband of Clymene, who lay with Helios and bore Phaethon...
  
  online database for peptidases and their inhibitors: M12.226