Amino acid sequences of metalloendopeptidases specific for acyl-lysine bonds from Grifola frondosa and Pleurotus ostreatus fruiting bodies.

The complete amino acid sequences of two lysine-specific zinc metalloendopeptidases (EC 3.4.24), Grifola frondosa metalloendopeptidase (GFMEP) and Pleurotus ostreatus metalloendopeptidase (POMEP), from the fruiting bodies of these two edible mushrooms have been established based on the sequence information of the peptides generated from the reduced and alkylated GFMEP and POMEP by proteolytic digestions using GFMEP, trypsin, and other proteinases as well as by several chemical cleavages. From the sequences, it was found that GFMEP and POMEP were polypeptides composed of 167 and 168 amino acid residues, from which their molecular weights were calculated to be 18,040.5 and 17,921.3 in accord with the observed (M+H)+ values of 18,028 and 17,927, respectively, as determined by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry. Two disulfide bonds in GFMEP were found to link Cys5 to Cys75 and Cys77 to Cys97. An unusual post-translational modification of GFMEP was corroborated to be a partial attachment of a single mannose to Thr42. Comparison of the sequences revealed that overall identity between the enzymes was 61.3%. Although a highly homologous sequence was not found in sequence data bases except for a consensus zinc-binding sequence, HEXXH, both metalloendopeptidases somewhat resembled a family of metalloproteinases categorized as deuterolysin. These proteases together with GFMEP and POMEP do not have conserved third and/or fourth liganding amino acid residues seen in metzincin or thermolysin superfamily proteins and belong to a novel zinc metalloendopeptidase superfamily.