Retroviral proteases are encoded in the retroviral genome and are responsible for
maturation and assembly of infectious virus particles. A number of retroviral protease
sequences with retroviral elements are integrated in every eukaryotic genome as
endogenous retroviruses. Recently, retroviral-like aspartic proteases that were not
embedded within endogenous retroviral elements were identified throughout the eukaryotic
and prokaryotic genomes. However, the physiological role of this novel protease family …