LOca-1: A minimal calcium-activated arginyl-specific orthocaspase from the Loki's Castle hydrothermal vent field

LOca-1, a metagenome-derived orthocaspase from the Loki’s Castle hydrothermal vent field, is calcium-activated and arginyl-specific, with maximal activity at 65 {degrees}C and melting near 72 {degrees}C.

• Why it matters: Orthocaspases’ biochemical properties and cellular roles are poorly understood, and only one other orthocaspase had been biochemically characterized before this work.
• What they did: The team discovered LOca-1 from metagenomic data, characterized its calcium-dependent activation via cleavage at a conserved arginine, and measured activity and thermal stability across temperatures.
• The result: LOca-1 shows strict arginyl-specific proteolysis with strong selectivity around the cleavage-site residues, enabling deeper study of minimal p20-domain orthocaspase function in prokaryotes.

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