title: Assembly and secretion of fibrinogen. Involvement of amino-terminal domains in dimer formation.
abstract: Fibrinogen is a dimer with each half-molecule composed of three different chains (A alpha, B beta, gamma). Previous studies showed that amino-terminal disulfide bonds, as well as the disulfide rings that flank the "coiled-coil" region, are necessary for chain assembly and secretion (Zhang, J.Z., and Redman, C.M. (1994) J. Biol. Chem. 269, 652-658). We now determine whether other amino-terminal domains are involved in linking the half-molecules. Fibrinogen chains, with deletions at the amino terminus, were co-expressed in COS cells together with normal fibrinogen chains. Elimination of the first 8 amino acids of the B beta chain did not affect dimer assembly, but deletion of amino acid residues 9-72 had a small inhibitory effect on dimer formation. Deletion of the first 72 amino acids of the B beta chain further inhibited dimer formation and resulted in nearly equal amounts of half-molecule and dimeric fibrinogen being formed and secreted. Deletion of the first 80 residues, which includes the cysteine residues that form the amino-terminal disulfide ring, completely eliminated dimer formation, and only half-molecules were secreted. By contrast deletion of the fist 41 amino acid residues of the A alpha chain or the first 15 residues of the gamma chain, which correspond to B beta delta 1-72, did not affect chain assembly and secretion. However, co-expression of both A alpha delta 1-41 and gamma delta 1-15 with normal B beta, inhibited dimer formation. Taken together, these results indicate that in addition to disulfide bonds, noncovalent interactions of other amino-terminal amino acid residues in the three fibrinogen chains also participate in dimer formation.
authors.affiliation: Lindsley F. Kimball Research Institute, New York Blood Center, New York 10021, USA.
authors.forename: J Z
authors.initials: JZ
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Redman
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002460:Cell Line; D003545:Cysteine / Q000235:genetics; D015180:Electrophoresis, Gel, Two-Dimensional; D005340:Fibrinogen / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016297:Mutagenesis, Site-Directed; D017384:Sequence Deletion; D012694:Serine / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D012694:Serine; D005340:Fibrinogen; D003545:Cysteine