Amino acid sequence alignment of wild-type and mutant SspC proteins. The amino acid sequences for wild-type SspC, SspCΔ11, and SspCΔ11-D13K are given in one-letter code (1, 25). Asterisks above amino acid residues indicate residues which are conserved in all α/β-type SASP identified from Bacillus, Sporosarcina, and Thermoactinomyces species (1, 25). The downward-pointing arrow indicates the peptide bond which is cleaved by GPR.