The Lon serine proteases must hydrolyse ATP to degrade protein substrates. In Escherichia coli, these proteases are involved in turnover of intracellular proteins, including abnormal proteins following heat-shock. The active site for protease activity resides in a C-terminal domain. The Lon proteases are classified as family S16 in Merops.

1: Domain structure and ATP-induced conformational changes in Escherichia coli protease Lon revealed by limited proteolysis and autolysis. Vasilyeva OV, Kolygo KB, Leonova YF, Potapenko NA, Ovchinnikova TV; FEBS Lett 2002;526:66-70. PMID:12208506