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- ****************************************************************
- * Fibrinogen beta and gamma chains C-terminal domain signature *
- ****************************************************************
-
- Fibrinogen [1], the principal protein of vertebrate blood clotting is an
- hexamer containing two sets of three different chains (alpha, beta, and
- gamma), linked to each other by disulfide bonds. The N-terminal sections of
- these three chains are evolutionary related and contain the cysteines that
- participate in the cross-linking of the chains. However, there is no
- similarity between the C-terminal part of the alpha chain and that of the beta
- and gamma chains. The C-terminal part of the beta and gamma chains forms a
- domain of about 270 amino-acid residues. As shown in the schematic
- representation this domain contains four conserved cysteines involved in two
- disulfide bonds.
-
- *****
- xxxxxxCxxxxxxxxxxxxCxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxCxxxxxCxxxxxxxxxxxxx
- | | | |
- +------------+ +-----+
-
- 'C': conserved cysteine involved in a disulfide bond.
- '*': position of the pattern.
-
- Such a domain has been recently found [2,3] in other proteins which are listed
- below.
-
- - Two sea cucumber fibrinogen-like proteins (FReP-A and FReP-B). These are
- proteins, of about 260 amino acids, which have a fibrinogen beta/gamma C-
- terminal domain.
- - In the C-terminus of Drosophila protein scabrous (gene sca). Scabrous is
- involved in the regulation of neurogenesis in Drosophila and may encode a
- lateral inhibitor of R8 cells differentiation.
- - In the C-terminus of a mammalian T-cell specific protein of unknown
- function.
- - In the C-terminus of a human protein of unknown function which is encoded
- on the opposite strand of the steroid 21-hydroxylase/complement component
- C4 gene locus.
-
- The function of this domain is not yet known, but it has been suggested [2]
- that it could be involved in protein-protein interactions. As a signature
- pattern for this domain, we selected the region around the fourth cysteine.
-
- -Consensus pattern: W-W-[LIVMFYW]-x(2)-C-x(2)-[SGSA]-x(2)-N-G
- [C is involved in a disulfide bond]
- -Sequences known to belong to this class detected by the pattern: ALL.
- -Other sequence(s) detected in SWISS-PROT: NONE.
- -Last update: December 1991 / First entry.
-
- [ 1] Doolittle R.F.
- Annu. Rev. Biochem. 53:195-229(1984).
- [ 2] Xu X., Doolittle R.F.
- Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 87:2097-2101(1990).
-