Environment of the active site region of RseP, an Escherichia coli regulated intramembrane proteolysis protease, assessed by site-directed cysteine alkylation.

Regulated intramembrane proteolysis (RIP) plays crucial roles in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms. Proteases for RIP cleave transmembrane regions of substrate membrane proteins. However, the molecular mechanisms for the proteolysis of membrane-embedded transmembrane sequences are largely unknown. Here we studied the environment surrounding the active site region of RseP, an Escherichia coli S2P ortholog involved in the sigma(E) pathway of extracytoplasmic stress responses. RseP has two presumed active site motifs, HEXXH and LDG, located in membrane-cytoplasm boundary regions. We examined the reactivity of cysteine residues introduced within or in the vicinity of these two active site motifs with membrane-impermeable thiol-alkylating reagents under various conditions. The active site positions were inaccessible to the reagents in the native state, but many of them became partially modifiable in the presence of a chaotrope, while requiring simultaneous addition of a chaotrope and a detergent for full modification. These results suggest that the active site of RseP is not totally embedded in the lipid phase but located within a proteinaceous structure that is partially exposed to the aqueous milieu.