The authors identified the enzyme, a glycopeptidase called Gcp, in Echerichia coli, where it binds to glycated proteins like AGEs, which are known to participate in many age-related human diseases, including cardiovascular, neurological, and liver diseases. In E. coli, Gcp apparently prevents these products from accumulating, but the authors point out that since Gcp is largely conserved in other species, it probably plays much the same role in aging across the kingdoms.
