The Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) genome encodes a family of 51 proteins that are homologous to known serine carboxypeptidases. Based on their sequences, these serine carboxypeptidase-like (SCPL) proteins can be divided into several major clades. The first group consists of 21 proteins which, despite the function implied by their annotation, includes two that have been shown to function as acyltransferases in plant secondary metabolism: sinapoylglucose:malate sinapoyltransferase and sinapoylglucose:choline sinapoyltransferase. A second group comprises 25 SCPL proteins whose biochemical functions have not been clearly defined. Genes encoding representatives from both of these clades can be found in many plants, but have not yet been identified in other phyla. In contrast, the remaining SCPL proteins include five members that are similar to serine carboxypeptidases from a variety of organisms, including fungi and animals. Reverse transcription PCR results suggest that some SCPL genes are expressed in a highly tissue-specific fashion, whereas others are transcribed in a wide range of tissue types. Taken together, these data suggest that the Arabidopsis SCPL gene family encodes a diverse group of enzymes whose functions are likely to extend beyond protein degradation and processing to include activities such as the production of secondary metabolites.Serine carboxypeptidases (SCPs) are members of the a/b hydrolase family of proteins, which make use of a Ser-Asp-His catalytic triad to cleave the carboxyterminal peptide bonds of their protein or peptide substrates (Hayashi et al., 1973(Hayashi et al., , 1975Bech and Breddam, 1989;Liao and Remington, 1990;Liao et al., 1992;Ollis et al., 1992). Proteins that contain this catalytic triad and are otherwise homologous to SCPs have been found in a variety of organisms (Doi et al., 1980;Kim and Hayashi, 1983;Breddam, 1986;Baulcombe et al., 1987;Galjart et al., 1988;Bradley, 1992;Degan et al., 1994;Endrizzi et al., 1994;Wajant et al., 1994;Jones et al., 1996;Li and Steffens, 2000). Many of these serine carboxypeptidase-like (SCPL) proteins have been annotated as peptidases based only on this shared sequence similarity; however, studies have shown that some of them function not as peptidases, but as acyltransferases and lyases (Wajant et al., 1994;Lehfeldt et al., 2000;Li and Steffens, 2000;Shirley et al., 2001). For example, several SCPL proteins have been shown to catalyze the production of plant secondary metabolites involved in herbivory defense and UV protection (Wajant et al., 1994;Lehfeldt et al., 2000;Li and Steffens, 2000), including the hydroxynitrile lyase from Sorghum bicolor (SbHNL) necessary for cyanogenesis, and the acyltransferases in wild tomato (Lycopersicon pennellii) that catalyze the formation 2,3,4-isobutyryl-Glc (Wajant et al., 1994;Lehfeldt et al., 2000). Two enzymes in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) responsible for sinapate ester biosynthesis are also SCPL proteins. Sinapoylglucose:malate sinapoyltransferase (SMT) catalyzes the formation of s...