Structural basis of signal peptide recognition by the signal peptidase complex
A Manuel Liaci, Dimitrios Vismpas, Lisbeth R Kjølbye, Ioannis Skalidis, Gilberto P Pereira, Adrian Fujiet Koh, Mariska Gröllers-Mulderij, Abhay Kotecha, Paulo C T Souza, Friedrich Förster · 2026
Read Structural basis of signal peptide recognition by the signal peptidase complex by A Manuel Liaci, Dimitrios Vismpas, Lisbeth R Kjølbye, Ioannis Skalidis, Gilberto P Pereira, Adrian Fujiet Koh, Mariska Gröllers-Mulderij, Abhay Kotecha, Paulo C T Souza, Friedrich Förster (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-13385932.txt.
Description
Manuel Liaci and colleagues reveal, atom by atom, how the signal peptidase complex recognizes the tags that route newly made proteins. The complex cleaves signal peptides from roughly a tenth of the human proteome. Signal peptides share a tripartite structure, three regions defined by general chemistry rather than strict sequence, yet the enzyme processes this diversity with exquisite specificity.
The team presents a cryo-electron microscopy map, at near-atomic resolution, of one human complex paralog bound to a model signal peptide. The peptide's end region sits in a hydrophobic groove near the active site; a narrow gate marks the transition to its helical middle region, which lodges in a transmembrane window. Substrate engagement stabilizes helices of the catalytic subunit that frame the peptide. Simulations confirm the network, and modeling supports the binding mode across real signal peptides.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | A Manuel Liaci, Dimitrios Vismpas, Lisbeth R Kjølbye, Ioannis Skalidis, Gilberto P Pereira, Adrian Fujiet Koh, Mariska Gröllers-Mulderij, Abhay Kotecha, Paulo C T Souza, Friedrich Förster |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 54 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |