The product of the lsp gene of Escherichia coli, i.e. the prolipoprotein signal peptidase, was identified by both in vivo pulse labeling experiments using a high expression lambda PL promoter vector and by an in vitro transcription/translation coupled system. The molecular weight of prolipoprotein signal peptidase was estimated to be approximately 18,000 by its mobility on polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and was found to be the same as that of SPase II purified from the wild-type cells. Analysis of SPase II activities in strains containing various subclones, deletion derivatives generated from plasmid pMT521, and analysis of protein products in a strain harboring an ileS-lsp-fused gene indicated that ileS and lsp genes are transcribed on the same mRNA. This was further supported by the observation that Tn5 insertions in the ileS gene resulted in a reduced expression of the lsp gene. In addition to an upstream promoter shared by the ileS and lsp genes, these analyses also revealed the presence of an internal promoter for the lsp gene within the coding region of the ileS gene.