Abstract 2176 Can You Handle the Heat?: Understanding the Effect of Active Site Residues on Protein Splicing in Thermophile Inteins

Protein splicing is a post-translational process in which inteins, interrupting sequences of the polypeptide chain, catalyze their own removal and ligation of the flanking exteins. Many inteins are found in archaea that thrive under extreme environments. The thermophiles Thermococcus kodakarensis and Thermococcus barophilus have inteins that are closely related in sequence but have different active-site residues. In the wild type inteins, the C-terminal residues for T. barophilus are Ser and Asn, and those for T.