Evolutionary families of peptidases

1993/02/15 by N D Rawlings, Neil D. Rawlings, A. John Barrett +1 · 4 citations
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Immunology and Microbiology · Medicine · #Galectins and Cancer Biology #Glycosylation and Glycoproteins Research #Peptidase Inhibition and Analysis

paper · pdf · doi:10.1042/bj2900205

openalex publication_date 1993/02/15 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29

Abstract

The available amino acid sequences of peptidases have been examined, and the enzymes have been allocated to evolutionary families. Some of the families can be grouped together in 'clans' that show signs of distant relationship, but nevertheless, it appears that there may be as many as 60 evolutionary lines of peptidases with separate origins. Some of these contain members with quite diverse peptidase activities, and yet there are some striking examples of convergence. We suggest that the classification by families could be used as an extension of the current classification by catalytic type.

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