A conserved cleavage-site motif in chloroplast transit peptides.
A collection of 32 stroma-targeting chloroplast transit peptides with known cleavage sites have been analysed in terms of amino acid preferences in the vicinity of the processing site. A loosely conserved consensus motif (Val/Ile)-X-(Ala/Cys) decreases Ala is found in the majority of the transit peptides. About 30% of the sequences have a perfect match to the consensus. When such a match is found, there is a 90% probability that it specifies the correct cleavage site.
Gavel
Y
Y
Department of Theoretical Physics, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden.
von Heijne
G
G
D000409:Alanine / Q000032:analysis; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001120:Arginine / Q000032:analysis; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*; D002736:Chloroplasts / Q000032:analysis*; D003545:Cysteine / Q000032:analysis; D007532:Isoleucine / Q000032:analysis; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*; D014633:Valine / Q000032:analysis
D002352:Carrier Proteins; D010940:Plant Proteins; D007532:Isoleucine; D001120:Arginine; D014633:Valine; D003545:Cysteine; D000409:Alanine