Protease, Serine 2 (PRSS2)

In the ileum, PRSS2 may be involved in defensin processing, including DEFA5.

PRSS2 is a member of the trypsin family of serine proteases. This enzyme is secreted by the pancreas and cleaved to its active form in the small intestine. It is active on peptide linkages involving the carboxyl group of lysine or arginine. This gene and several other trypsinogen genes are localized to the T cell receptor beta locus on chromosome 7.

Trypsin is a serine protease found in the digestive system of many vertebrates, where it hydrolyses proteins.Rowen et al. (1996) mapped the gene corresponding to the third pancreatic trypsinogen cDNA by fluorescence in situ hybridization. They used a cosmid clone containing 3 trypsinogen genes.

Strong hybridization to chromosome 7 and weaker hybridization to chromosome 9 were observed. They isolated and partially sequenced 4 cosmid clones from the chromosome 9 region. They found that the region represents a duplication and translocation of a DNA segment from the 3-prime end of the TCRB locus that includes at least 7 V(beta) elements and a functional trypsinogen gene denoted T9.