Classification of serine proteases derived from steric comparisons of their active sites.

The steric arrangements of the amino acyl residues in the catalytic triads and tetrads of the active site are compared with each other by means of systematic analysis of the conformation of the serine proteases stored in the Brookhaven Protein Data Bank. On this basis a differentiation between the representatives of the (chymo)trypsin family on the one hand and those of the subtilisin family on the other hand is found. The enzyme tonin distinguishes from representatives of the (chymo)trypsin family and should be classified to a new subclass of this family. Thermitase represents a new subclass of the subtilisins. The spatial orientation of the amino acyl residues of the active site of tonin suggests a new mechanism of enzyme catalysis that possibly also occurs in dipeptidyl peptidase IV.