Abstract:Proteasomes play a vital role in the intracellular proteolysis of eukaryotes, archaea, and some bacteria (mainly actinobacteria). Although similar in structure, bacterial proteasomes are distinguished from the eukaryotic and archaeal proteasomes in assembly, regulation, and physiological functions. Studying bacterial proteasomes helps understand their origin and evolutionary processes and guides the mining of proteasome inhibitors (PI) with broad medical application prospects. This review summarized the current research status of the structure, function, and evolution of bacterial proteasomes and the latest progress on bacterial proteasome inhibitors, hoping to provide references for related research.