Prepilin peptidase () is an

enzyme Enzymes () are proteins that act as biological catalysts by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different molecules known as products. A ...

found in

Type IV filament The type IV filament superfamily (TFF) is a group of Pilin, fibrous protein structures that includes a set of cell projections with evolutionarily related membrane proteins. The TFF family seems to have originated in the last universal common ancest ...

systems responsible for the maturation of the

pilin Pilin refers to a class of fibrous proteins that are found in pilus structures in bacteria. These structures can be used for the exchange of genetic material, or as a cell adhesion mechanism. Although not all bacteria have pili or fimbriae, ba ...

. This enzyme catalyses the following

chemical reaction A chemical reaction is a process that leads to the IUPAC nomenclature for organic transformations, chemical transformation of one set of chemical substances to another. Classically, chemical reactions encompass changes that only involve the pos ...

: Typically cleaves a -Gly-Phe- bond to release an

N-terminal The N-terminus (also known as the amino-terminus, NH2-terminus, N-terminal end or amine-terminus) is the start of a protein or polypeptide, referring to the free amine group (-NH2) located at the end of a polypeptide. Within a peptide, the ami ...

, basic

peptide Peptides (, ) are short chains of amino acids linked by peptide bonds. Long chains of amino acids are called proteins. Chains of fewer than twenty amino acids are called oligopeptides, and include dipeptides, tripeptides, and tetrapeptides. A ...

of 5-8 residues from type IV prepilin, and then N-methylates the new N-terminal amino group, the methyl donor being ''S''-adenosyl-L-methionine. This enzyme is present on the surface of many species of bacteria. All known enzymes with this activity are of the

MEROPS MEROPS is an online database for peptidases (also known as proteases, proteinases and proteolytic enzymes) and their inhibitors. The classification scheme for peptidases was published by Rawlings & Barrett in 1993, and that for protein inhibitor ...

family A24.

References

External links

*
MEROPS A24
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