An extracellular endopeptidase (proteinase) from Serratia marcescens (Serratia marcescens extracellular proteinase, EC 3.4.24.4), purified to homogeneity, was analyzed for enzyme properties. The enzyme has a polypeptide chain molecular mass of 52 kDa as determined by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). The enzyme has an optimal temperature of 40 degrees C and an optimal pH of 7.0. Enzyme activity was enhanced over two times by the addition of Ca2+ and Mg2+ ions and eliminated almost completely by the presence of 0.2% SDS. The enzyme has broad substrate specificity and contains neither cysteine nor methionine. Low homology was found between the NH2-terminal amino acid sequence of the enzyme of this study and the NH2-terminal sequence of a proteinase from another strain of S. marcescens. Chemical modification with N-bromosuccinimide, 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-carbodiimide, and 8-anilino-1-naphthalene sulfonic acid and by photooxidation with methylene blue reduced enzyme activity considerably. The enzyme was shown to have broad peptide bond specificity judging from the contribution of 11 amino acids to the carboxyl side of the peptide bonds hydrolyzed.