Reaction: All bonds known to be hydrolysed by this endopeptidase have arginine in P1 and an acidic residue in P4. P6 is often occupied by an acidic residue or by an hydroxy-amino-acid residue, the phosphorylation of which enhances cleavage
Other name(s): separin
Comments: In both budding yeast and human cells, cleavage of the cohesin subunit Scc1 by separase is required for sister chromatid separation in mitosis. Budding yeast separase is also known to cleave the Rec8 subunit of a meiotic cohesin complex and the kinetochore protein Slk19. Type example of peptidase family C50.
Links to other databases: BRENDA, EXPASY, KEGG, MEROPS, Metacyc, CAS registry number: 351527-77-0
References:
1. Waizenegger, I., Gimenez-Abian, J., Wernic, D. and Peters, J. Regulation of human separase by securin binding and autocleavage. Curr. Biol. 12 (2002) 1368-1378. [PMID: 12194817]