On hypervariability at the reactive center of proteolytic enzymes and their inhibitors

The pattern of synonymous and nonsynonymous substitutions at the reactive center of proteases (kallikrein) and their inhibitors (alpha 1-antitrypsin and serpin) was examined. In the case of alpha 1-antitrypsin, the proportion of different nonsynonymous sites exceeds that of different synonymous sites at the reactive center for sequence pairs of recent duplication. The result indicates that the positive selection has operated after duplication to increase functional diversity. In the cases of kallikrein, serpin, and remote sequence pairs of alpha 1-antitrypsin, the proportion of different synonymous sites at the reactive center exceeds that of different synonymous sites at the remaining region. The result indicates that gene conversion followed by natural selection is working. On the whole, it is concluded that hypervariability of amino acids at the reactive center is generated by an interaction among natural selection, random genetic drift, point mutation, and gene conversion. Gene duplication may provide potential for them to interact.