Clp cleaves peptides in various proteins in a process that requires ATP hydrolysis. Clp may be responsible for a fairly general and central housekeeping function rather than for the degradation of specific substrates (By similarity). Hydrolysis of proteins to small peptides in the presence of ATP and magnesium. alpha-casein is the usual test substrate. In the absence of ATP, only oligopeptides shorter than five residues are hydrolyzed (such as succinyl-Leu-Tyr-|-NHMec, and Leu-Tyr-Leu-|-Tyr-Trp, in which cleavage of the -Tyr-|-Leu- and -Tyr-|-Trp bonds also occurs). Tetradecamer that assembles into a two heptameric rings with a central cavity. Belongs to the peptidase S14 family.