Cleavage site specificity of vertebrate collagenases

A series of synthetic peptide substrates for vertebrate collagenase having the structure Ac-Pro-Leu-Gly-X-Leu-Gly-OC2H5, where X is Leu, Ile, Val, Phe and Ala, have been prepared. Collagenolytic enzymes from various sources cleave these substrates with differing relative rate patterns. This series of peptides should be valuable for characterization of collagenases.