The multicatalytic proteinase (prosome, proteasome): comparison of the eukaryotic and archaebacterial enzyme.

Proteasomes isolated and purified from rat muscle tissue and from the archaebacterium Thermoplasma acidophilum have a very similar size and shape, but the subunit composition is less complex in the archaebacterium as compared to the eukaryotic particle. The archaebacterial enzyme contains a catalytic site with chymotryptic specificity, which is inhibited by serine proteinase inhibitors and clearly differs from the eukaryotic particle which has a minimum of three catalytic sites for peptide bond hydrolysis of a yet undefined mechanism.