Proteolytic inventory of Thermococcus kodakaraensis

Abstract

Proteolysis is a very crucial process for development and survival of the cell. Genome sequence data can be employed to estimate proteolysis inventories of different organisms. In this review, we exploit genome sequence data of hyperthermophilic archaeon Thermococcus kodakaraensis to have an overview of the proteolysis in this microorganism. The overview is based on those peptidases that have been characterized, and on putative peptidases that have been identified but have yet to be characterized. In contrast to bacteria, the number of proteolytic enzymes in archaea is quite low. By analyzing the genome sequence data, we tried to establish how T. kodakaraensis maintains its life cycle and other processes by using such a small number of protein scavengers while harboring at high temperature where chances of protein denaturation are high.