Peptidase family M3B oligopeptidase F (PepF; Pz-peptidase B; EC 3.4.24.-) is mostly bacterial and includes oligoendopeptidase F from Lactococcus lactis. This enzyme hydrolyzes peptides containing between 7 and 17 amino acids with fairly broad specificity. The PepF gene is duplicated in L. lactis on the plasmid that bears it, while a shortened second copy is found in Bacillus subtilis. Most bacterial PepFs are cytoplasmic endopeptidases; however, the Bacillus amyloliquefaciens PepF oligopeptidase is a secreted protein and may facilitate the process of sporulation. Specifically, the yjbG gene encoding the homolog of the PepF1 and PepF2 oligoendopeptidases of Lactococcus lactis has been identified in Bacillus subtilis as an inhibitor of sporulation initiation when over-expressed from a multicopy plasmid. This PepF family includes Streptococcus agalactiae PepB, a group B streptococcal oligopeptidase which has been shown to degrade a variety of bioactive peptides as well as the synthetic collagen-like substrate N-(3-[2-furyl]acryloyl)-Leu-Gly- Pro-Ala in vitro.
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