At least one of the members of this family, the Pal protein from the pneumococcal bacteriophage Dp-1 Swiss:O03979 has been shown to be a N-acetylmuramoyl-L-alanine amidase [1]. According to the known modular structure of this and other peptidoglycan hydrolases from the pneumococcal system, the active site should reside at the N-terminal domain whereas the C-terminal domain binds to the choline residues of the cell wall teichoic acids [2,3]. This family appears to be related to Pfam:PF00877.

1: Biochemical characterization of a murein hydrolase induced by bacteriophage Dp-1 in Streptococcus pneumoniae: comparative study between bacteriophage-associated lysin and the host amidase. Garcia P, Mendez E, Garcia E, Ronda C, Lopez R; J Bacteriol 1984;159:793-796. PMID:6146601

2: The lytic enzyme of the pneumococcal phage Dp-1: a chimeric lysin of intergeneric origin. Sheehan MM, Garcia JL, Lopez R, Garcia P; Mol Microbiol 1997;25:717-725. PMID:9379901

3: Molecular evolution of lytic enzymes of Streptococcus pneumoniae and its bacteriophages. Garcia E, Garcia JL, Garcia P, Arraras A, Sanchez-Puelles JM, Lopez R; Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 1988;85:914-918. PMID:3422470