Description |
The central E region of fibrin contains two sets of polymerization knobs, A and B, that are cryptic in fibrinogen but become exposed after thrombin cleavage of fibrinopeptide A (FpA) and fibrinopeptide B (FpB) from the N-terminus of the Aalpha- and Bbeta-chains, respectively. The location of the binding holes and possible models for knob-hole interactions are known from X-ray crystallographic studies using synthetic peptide analogs of knobs A and B. When fibrinogen fragment D and double-D are crystallized in the presence of both peptide analogs, the knob A peptide mimic H-Gly-Pro-Arg-Pro-NH2 (GPRP-amide, H-1998) forms H-bond interactions with residues gamma364Asp, gamma330Asp, gamma329Gln, and gamma340His found in hole a. In the same manner, the knob B peptide mimic H-Gly-His-Arg-Pro-NH2 (GHRP-amide, H-7318) interacts with residues Bbeta397Glu, Bbeta398Asp, and Bbeta432Asp in hole b. |