The interaction of recombinant subdomains of the procollagen C-proteinase with procollagen I provides a quantitative explanation for functional differences between the two splice variants, mammalian tolloid and bone morphogenetic protein 1.

The procollagen C-proteinase (PCP) is a zinc peptidase of the astacin family and the metzincin superfamily. The enzyme removes the C-terminal propeptides of fibrillar procollagens and activates other matrix proteins. Besides its catalytic protease domain, the procollagen C-proteinase contains several C-terminal CUB modules (named after complement factors C1r and C1s, the sea urchin UEGF protein, and BMP-1) and EGF-like domains.

Activation mechanism of pro-astacin: role of the pro-peptide, tryptic and autoproteolytic cleavage and importance of precise amino-terminal processing.

Astacin (EC 3.4.24.