by signal peptidase, they are degraded in the membrane and cytoplasm. The resulting
fragments can have signaling functions. These observations suggest important roles for
signal peptide peptidases. The present studies show that the Gram-positive eubacterium
Bacillus subtilis contains two genes for proteins, denoted SppA and TepA, with similarity to
the signal peptide peptidase A of Escherichia coli. Notably, TepA also shows similarity to …