Researchers may find themselves confronted with proteases, either because they play an essential role in a particular process they are studying, or because they interfere with that process. In either case they may need to investigate or inhibit the proteolytic activity. Others may wish to use proteolytic enzymes as laboratory tools.
This book has been written with these investigators in mind and includes assay methods using natural and artificial substrates, genetic-based assays, and strategies for the inhibition, purification and crystallization of proteases. In selected chapters the use of proteolytic enzymes to analyze proteins, segregate cells or in peptide synthesis is covered.