FurinDB: A database of 20-residue furin cleavage site motifs, substrates and their associated drugs

Abstract

FurinDB (freely available online at http://www.nuolan.net/substrates.html) is a database of furin substrates. This database includes experimentally verified furin cleavage sites, substrates, species, experimental methods, original publications of experiments and associated drugs targeting furin substrates. The current database release contains 126 furin cleavage sites from three species: mammals, bacteria and viruses. A main feature of this database is that all furin cleavage sites are recorded as a 20-residue motif, including one core region (eight amino acids, P6-P2') and two flanking solvent accessible regions (eight amino acids, P7-P14, and four amino acids, P3'-P6'), that represent our current understanding of the molecular biology of furin cleavage. This database is important for understanding the molecular evolution and relationships between sequence motifs, 3D structures, cellular functions and physical properties required by furin for cleavage, and for elucidating the molecular mechanisms and the progression of furin cleavage associated human diseases, including pathogenic infections, neurological disorders, tumorigenesis, tumor invasion, angiogenesis, and metastasis. FurinDB database will be a solid addition to the publicly available infrastructure for scientists in the field of molecular biology.

Keywords: furin; furin cleavage site; molecular database.

Figure 1.

Physical properties of the 20 residue furin cleavage site motif. The physical properties of this motif have been conserved in molecular evolution. Distinct physical properties at different regions in the site affect the molecular biology of furin cleavage. The dynamic relationship between the physical properties of the P1′–P6′ region and viral infectivity is explained. The figure is reproduced from the author’s previous publication [4].

Figure 2.

Screenshot of the FurinDB database. Information of substrates, cleavage sites, taxonomies, biological functions, experimental methods and associated drugs are displayed in table form.