What are Collagenases?
Posted by Sara On Thu 28 Mar, 2019

What are collagenases?

Collagenases are metalloproteinases originating from the gram positive bacterium Clostridium histolyticum. There are two classes of clostridial collagenase, which are collagenase class I and collagenase class II. They are generated by expression of their respective genes colG and colH.

Collagenases cleave peptide bonds in the triple helical collagen molecule of human or animal tissue in situ. Both classes differ in their activity towards the collagen molecule. It is assumed that collagenase class I cleaves the intact collagen helix into smaller peptides which are a substrate to collagenase class II and that thus both classes act synergistically in efficient digestion of collagen. All Collagenase NB products contain both collagenase classes. -

  • Almost all commercial available collagenases are produced by the bacterium Clostridium histolyticum

  • C. histolyticum secretes two collagenases (class I & class II), neutral protease and clostripain

  • These four enzymes work together to dissociate the extracellular matrix (ECM). They are widely used for cell isolation from tissue

Collagenase - mediated tissue dissociation is a crucial step in cell isolation procedures influencing yield, viability and function of cells.
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