Abstact

The crystal structure of pyrrolidone-carboxylate peptidase (PCP) from hyperthermophilic archaea Pyrococcus horikoshii (PhoPCP) has been determined at 1.6-A resolution by X-ray crystallography. PCP belongs to the C15 family of cysteine protease, and specifically removes the amino terminal pyroglutamate residue from a wide range of N-terminal-blocking peptides. The crystal structure is very similar to that of other hyperthermophiles, Pyrococcus furiosus and Thermococcus litoralis, and even that from the mesophile, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens. The inter-subunit disulfide bonds, which have been proposed as one of the thermostabilizing factors of the PCP from such hyperthermophiles, was not present in PhoPCP. The result suggests that the thermostability of PhoPCP may be obtained by the accumulation of many weak factors.