STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONAL PROPERTIES OF THE GLU1-HSER57 N-TERMINAL FRAGMENT OF HUMAN PLASMINOGEN - CONFORMATIONAL CHARACTERIZATION AND INTERACTION WITH KRINGLE DOMAINS/
Ssa. An et al., STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONAL PROPERTIES OF THE GLU1-HSER57 N-TERMINAL FRAGMENT OF HUMAN PLASMINOGEN - CONFORMATIONAL CHARACTERIZATION AND INTERACTION WITH KRINGLE DOMAINS/, Protein science, 7(9), 1998, pp. 1947-1959
The Glu1-Val79 N-terminal peptide (NTP) domain of human plasminogen (P
gn) is followed by a tandem array of five kringle (K) structures of si
milar to 9 kDa each. K1, K2, K4, and K5 contain each a lysine-binding
site (LBS). Pgn was cleaved with CNBr and the Glu1-HSer57 N-terminal f
ragment (CB-NTP) isolated. In addition, the Ile27-Ile56 peptide (L-NTP
) that spans the doubly S-S bridged loop segment of NTP was synthesize
d. Pgn kringles were generated either by proteolytic fragmentation of
Pgn (K4, K5) or via recombinant gene expression (rK1, rK2, and rK3). I
nteractions of CB-NTP with each of the Pgn kringles were monitored by
H-1-NMR at 500 MHz and values for the equilibrium association constant
s (K-a) determined: rK1, K-a similar to 4.6 mM(-1); rK2, K-a similar t
o 3.3 mM(-1); K4, K-a similar to 6.2 mM(-1); K5, K-a similar to 2.3 mM
(-1). Thus, the lysine-binding kringles interact with CB-NTP more stro
ngly than with Na-acetyl-L-lysine methyl ester (K-a < 0.6 mM(-1)), whi
ch reveals specificity for the NTP. In contrast, CB-NTP does not measu
rably interact with rK3, which is devoid of a LBS. CB-NTP and L-NTP H-
1-NMR spectra were assigned and interproton distances estimated from H
-1-H-1 Overhauser (NOESY) experiments. Structures of L-NTP and the Glu
1-Ile27 segment of CB-NTP were computed via restrained dynamic simulat
ed annealing/energy minimization (SA/EM) protocols. Conformational mod
els of CB-NTP were generated by joining the two (sub)structures follow
ed by a round of constrained SA/EM. Helical turns are indicated for se
gments 6-9, 12-16, 28-30, and 45-48. Within the Cys34-Cys42 loop of L-
NTP, the structure of the Glu-Glu-Asp-Glu-Glu39 segment appears to be
relatively less defined, as is the case for the stretch containing Lys
50 within the Cys42-Cys54 segment, consistent with the latter possibly
interacting with kringle domains in intact Glu1-Pgn. Overall, the CB-
NTP and L-NTP fragments are of low regular secondary structure content
-as indicated by W-CD spectra-and exhibit fast amide H-1-H-2 exchange
in (H2O)-H-2, suggestive of high flexibility.