Sandbox Reserved 817: Difference between revisions

The 501 amino acid sequence of BACE1 bears the hallmark features of eukaryotic aspartic proteases of the pepsin family. BACE1 has two aspartic protease active site motifs, DTGS (residues 93–96) and DSGT (residues 289–292), and mutation of either aspartic acid renders the enzyme inactive [21,47]. Like other aspartic proteases, BACE1 has an N-terminal signal sequence (residues 1–21) and a pro-peptide domain (residues 22–45) that are removed post-translationally, so the mature enzyme begins at residue Glu46 [47]. Importantly, BACE1 has a single transmembrane domain near its C-terminus (residues 455–480) and a palmitoylated cytoplasmic tail [48]. Thus, BACE1 is a type I membrane rotein with a luminal active site, features predicted for â-secretase. The position of the BACE1 active site within the lumen of intracellular compartments provides the correct topological orientation for cleavage of APP at the â-secretase site.