Unraveling the means to the end in ATP-dependent proteases
Mark Hochstrasser
& Jimin Wang
Mark Hochstrasser and Jimin Wang are at Yale University, Department of Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry, 266 Whitney Avenue, P.O. Box 208114, New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8114, USA.
In the ATP-dependent proteases, separate internal chambers function in substrate unfolding and degradation. These chambers are linked by narrow channels, requiring a protein to unfold completely in order to pass between them. New work suggests that substrates are unraveled from one end first and are translocated vectorially into the proteolytic core.
