[To the problem of proteolytic enzyme evolution].

Own and literature data on putative evolution of proteolytic enzymes have been reviewed. Modern principles of peptidase classification based on evaluation of homology of more than 66 thousand gene sequences and similarity of general structural organization of almost 2.5 thousands of known enzymes are considered. The review highlights not only evolutionary interrelationships inside related peptidase families, their possible evolutionary background, but also evolutionary determined differences in certain proteolytic pathway in organisms belonging to different taxons.