LAP3 (leucine aminopeptidase 3), also known as LAPEP or PEPS, is a 519 amino acid protein that localizes to the cytoplasm and belongs to the peptidase M17 family. Existing as a homohexamer, LAP3 uses zinc as a cofactor to catalyze the release of an N-terminal proline from a target peptide and is, therefore, involved in the processing and turnover of intracellular proteins. Multiple isoforms of LAP3 exist due to alternative splicing events. The gene encoding LAP3 maps to human chromosome 4, which houses nearly 6% of the human genome and has the largest gene deserts (regions of the genome with no protein encoding genes) of all of the human chromosomes. Defects in some of the genes located on chromosome 4 are associated with Huntingtons disease, Ellis-van Creveld syndrome, methylmalonic acidemia and polycystic kidney disease.
