This family includes zinc amidases that have N-acetylmuramoyl-L-alanine amidase activity EC:3.5.1.28. This enzyme domain cleaves the amide bond between N-acetylmuramoyl and L-amino acids in bacterial cell walls (preferentially: D-lactyl-L-Ala). The structure is known for the bacteriophage T7 structure and shows that two of the conserved histidines are zinc binding.

1: Cloning, sequencing and expression of a Bacillus bacteriolytic enzyme in Escherichia coli. Potvin C, Leclerc D, Tremblay G, Asselin A, Bellemare G; Mol Gen Genet 1988;214:241-248. PMID:3070348

2: Sequence analysis of a Staphylococcus aureus gene encoding a peptidoglycan hydrolase activity. Wang X, Wilkinson BJ, Jayaswal RK; Gene 1991;102:105-109. PMID:1677905

3: The structure of bacteriophage T7 lysozyme, a zinc amidase and an inhibitor of T7 RNA polymerase. Cheng X, Zhang X, Pflugrath JW, Studier FW; Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 1994;91:4034-4038. PMID:8171031