1Francine B. Perler is at the New England Biolabs, 32 Tozer Road, Beverly, Massachusetts 01915, USA. email: perler@neb.com
Formation of an internal (thio)ester bond activates numerous in vivo protein autoprocessing pathways including pyruvoyol group synthesis, autoproteolysis, protein splicing, enzyme activation and protein targeting. Structural analysis of precursors, intermediates and products is fine tuning our understanding of the mechanisms of these reactions.
