In spite of the numerous studies regarding prolyl aminopeptidase, little is known about its mechanism and the significance of its similarity to a number of hydrolases of diverse specificity that belong to the alpha/beta hydrolase-fold family (Pseudomonas 2-hydroxymuconic semialdehyde hydrolase, atropinesterase, and 2-hydroxy-6-oxophenylhexa-2,4-dienoic acid hydrolase; human and rat epoxide hydrolases). We report the cloning and sequencing of the novel prolyl aminopeptidase gene from Flavobacterium meningosepticum (FPAP) which allowed a more comprehensive sequence comparison. FPAP was found to be a 35-kDa monomeric enzyme, releasing N-terminal proline but not hydroxyproline residues from small peptides and naphthylamide esters. Using the unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean method, an evolutionary tree that depicts the probable relationship between the prolyl aminopeptidases and the alpha/beta hydrolase-fold enzymes was constructed. Since the alpha/beta hydrolase-fold family might also include the members of the prolyl oligopeptidase family (prolyl oligopeptidase, dipeptidyl peptidase IV, and prolyl carboxypeptidase), this proposal links all the known Pro-Y bond-cleaving proline-specific peptidases (prolyl oligopeptidase family, prolyl aminopeptidases, and prolinase) as enzymes with similar scaffolds and hydrolytic mechanisms. On the other hand, the enzymes that cleave X-Pro bonds are metalloenzymes grouped within the "pita-bread" fold family (aminopeptidase P and prolidase). Although the latter two enzymes show significant sequence homology, prolyl aminopeptidase, prolinase, and the members of the prolyl oligopeptidase family do not, and might share the alpha/beta hydrolase-fold scaffold. This rationale would explain the failure in finding a common "proline-recognizing motif" in the primary structures of these proline-specific peptidases.