Bacterial Proteasomes

Interest in bacterial proteasomes was sparked by the discovery that proteasomal degradation is required for the pathogenesis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, one of the world's deadliest pathogens. Although bacterial proteasomes are structurally similar to their eukaryotic and archaeal homologs, there are key differences in their mechanisms of assembly, activation, and substrate targeting for degradation. In this article, we compare and contrast bacterial proteasomes with their archaeal and eukaryotic counterparts, and we discuss recent advances in our understanding of how bacterial proteasomes function to influence microbial physiology.