Metalloproteases play a key role in many physiological processes in mammals such as cell migration, tissue remodeling and processing of growth factors. They have also been identified as important factors in the patho-physiology of a number of human diseases, including cancer and hypertension. Many bacterial pathogens rely on proteases in order to infect the host. Several classes of metalloproteases have been described in humans, bacteria, snake venoms and insects. However, the presence and characterization of plant metalloproteases have rarely been described in the literature. In our research, we searched the sugarcane expressed sequence tag (SUCEST) DNA library in order to identify, by homology with sequences deposited in other databases, metalloprotease gene families expressed under different conditions. Protein sequences from Arabidopsis thaliana and Glycine max were used to search the SUCEST data bank. Conserved regions corresponding to different metalloprotease domains and sequence motifs were identified in the reads to characterize each group of enzymes. At least four classes of sugarcane metalloproteases have been identified, i.e. matrix metalloproteases, zincins, inverzincins, and ATP-dependent metalloproteases. Each enzyme class was analyzed for its expression in different conditions and tissues.
