Bacterial Signal Peptidases

Abstract

Signal peptidases are the membrane bound enzymes that cleave off the amino-terminal signal peptide from secretory preproteins. There are two types of bacterial signal peptidases. Type I signal peptidase utilizes a serine/lysine catalytic dyad mechanism and is the major signal peptidase in most bacteria. Type II signal peptidase is an aspartic protease specific for prolipoproteins. This chapter will review what is known about the structure, function and mechanism of these unique enzymes.