The family of peptidoglycan recognition proteins (PGRPs) is conserved from insects to mammals. Recently, Drosophila PGRP-SC1B was demonstrated to be an N-acetylmuramoyl-L-alanine amidase (NAMLAA), an enzyme that cleaves the lactylamide bond between muramic acid and the peptide chain in peptidoglycan (PGN). We now show an M.mPGRP-L mRNA to be expressed in the liver. The recombinant M.mPGRP-L protein has NAMLAA activity and degrades PGN from both Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus; however, the Gram-positive PGN was a better substrate after lysozyme treatment. The activity of M.mPGRP-L was further analysed using Bordelella pertussis tracheal toxin as a substrate. Cleavage products were separated on HPLC and identified using mass spectrometry. From these results we conclude that M.mPGRP-L has activity and other properties identifying it as the NAMLAA protein present in mammalian sera. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.