Characterization of a membrane-associated serine protease in Escherichia coli

Three membrane-associated proteolytic activities in Escherichia coli were resolved by DEAE-cellulose chromatography from detergent extracts of the total envelope fraction. On the basis of substrate specificity for the hydrolysis of chromogenic amino acid ester substrates, the first two eluting activities were determined previously to be protease V and protease IV, respectively (M. Pacaud, J. Bacteriol. 149:6-14, 1982). The third proteolytic activity eluting from the DEAE-cellulose column was further purified by affinity chromatography on benzamidine-Sepharose 6B. We termed this enzyme protease VI. Protease VI did not hydrolyze any of the chromogenic substrates used in the detection of protease IV and protease V. However, all three enzymes generated acid-soluble fragments from a mixture of E. coli membrane proteins which were biosynthetically labeled with radioactive amino acids. The activity of protease VI was sensitive to serine protease inhibitors. Using [3H]diisopropylfluorophosphate as an active-site labeling reagent, we determined that protease VI has an apparent molecular weight of 43,000 in polyacrylamide gels. All three membrane-associated serine proteases were insensitive to inhibition by Ecotin, and endogenous, periplasmic inhibitor of trypsin.