Progress on the functions of extracellular proteases from Stenotrophomonas maltophilia-A review

Abstract:

Stenotrophomonas maltophilia is a gram-negative bacilli, widely distributed in the natural environments. As a novel, conditional pathogenic bacterium associated with high mortality, S. maltophilia could infect human or other organisms. In recent years, more and more studies have shown that extracellular proteases from bacteria are the key proteins which could lead to the incidence of hosts. Therefore, to explore the compositions and functions of extracellular proteases from S. maltophilia will not only help elucidate the pathogenic mechanisms, but also provide information on using them as the targets during the clinical treatment in the near future. This paper summarizes the characterizations, functions and applications of the extracellular proteases from S. maltophilia.