Chloroplast Proteases

The chloroplast within the plant cell has a dynamic environment where proteases play an important role in processing of precursor proteins, degradation of incomplete proteins lacking cofactors, stress-induced degradation and removal of damaged proteins. A number of proteases in the chloroplast are well characterized and found to be localized within different compartments such as stroma, thylakoids and lumen. In recent years, an increasing number of proteases in chloroplasts have been discovered and identified as bacterial protease homologues. These include the stromal Clp, thylakoidal FtsH and lumenal DegP. The current focus is to understand their role in chloroplast regulation both at the enzyme-substrate and genetic levels.