Current opinion in Microbiology Roles of adaptor proteins in regulation of bacterial proteolysis

Elimination of non-functional or unwanted proteins is critical for cell growth and regulation. In bacteria, ATP-dependent proteases target cytoplasmic proteins for degradation, contributing to both protein quality control and regulation of specific proteins, thus playing roles parallel to that of the proteasome in eukaryotic cells. Adaptor proteins provide a way to modulate the substrate specificity of the proteases and allow regulated proteolysis. Advances over the past few years have provided new insight into how adaptor proteins interact with both substrates and proteases and how adaptor functions are regulated. An important advance has come with the recognition of the critical roles of anti-adaptor proteins in regulating adaptor availability.