Substrate specificity of a proteolytic enzyme isolated from a mutant of Pseudomonas fragi

Previous studies have described the isolation of mutationally altered proteases in Pseudomonas fragi (Noreau, J., and Drapeau, G.R. (1979) J. Bacteriol, 140, 911-916. In the present study, it is shown that one of these proteases cleaves specifically the peptide bonds on the NH2-terminal side of either aspartic acid or cysteic acid residues in oxidized ribonuclease. With myoglobin as the substrate, a similar specificity was observed except that only four out of the six aspartyl bonds present were hydrolyzed.