Essential Role of Lysine 375 on an S. Commune metacaspase

Cell death occurs in all domains of life. Like other eukaryotes species, fungi undergo programmed cell death (PCD) to control cellular growth. Caspases are proteases functioning as a trigger that stimulates the PCD process, and the metacaspases are known to be an ancestor of the caspase family. Metacaspases are cysteine-dependent proteases in bacteria, algae, fungi, and plants. Most metacaspases are calcium-dependent, undergo autoproteolysis and are cleaved into smaller fragments. Determination of the autoproteolytic cleavage sites is important for two reasons.