S. Ventura et al., PANCREATIC PROCARBOXYPEPTIDASES - OLIGOMERIC STRUCTURES AND ACTIVATION PROCESSES REVISITED, Biological chemistry, 378(3-4), 1997, pp. 161-165
The activation peptides of procarboxypeptidases of the A1 type act in
a post-activation mechanism of control, limiting the expression of act
ivity immediately after the limited proteolysis has occurred. This eff
ect is due to structural complementarity between the enzymatic moiety
and the released fragments, and is further enhanced by the occurrence
of procarboxypeptidase A1 in oligomeric complexes of different type de
pending on the species studied. In those complexes, the activation seg
ment has an important role in the stabilisation of the quaternary stru
cture. The relationship between oligomeric structure and activation is
reviewed here for two of the most extensively studied systems.