Methods of using OmpT protease are provided. In particular, the invention
provides for a method of controlling cleavage of a polypeptide by OmpT
protease comprising, converting a sequence site comprising two arbitrary
consecutive amino acids and/or amino acid(s) in the vicinity of the site
in the polypeptide into other amino acids; which method comprises setting
lysine or arginine as the amino acid at the -1-position concerning the
site and setting a specific amino acid as the amino acid at the
+1-position; and/or setting specific amino acid(s) as the amino acid(s)
at the -4-position and/or the -6-position relative to the site; so that a
desired part of the polypeptide is cleaved by OmpT protease and/or an
undesired part of the polypeptide is not (or hardly) cleaved by OmpT
protease. A method of producing a target polypeptide is also provided.