The primitive metazoan Hydra expresses antistasin, a serine protease inhibitor of vertebrate blood coagulation

Holstein, Thomas W. and Mala, Carola and Kurz, Eva and Bauer, Karin and Greber, Martin and David, Charles N. (1992): The primitive metazoan Hydra expresses antistasin, a serine protease inhibitor of vertebrate blood coagulation. cDNA cloning, cellular localisation and developmental regulation. In: FEBS Letters, Vol. 309, No. 3: pp. 288-292

Abstract

We have isolated and characterized cDNAs from Hydra which encode antistasin, a potent inhibitor of factor Xa in the vertebrate blood clotting cascade. Hydra antistasin is expressed in gland cells and represents a major class of transcripts from Hydra's head. Sequence analysis revealed that Hydra antistasin contains 6 internal repeats of a 25–26 amino acid sequence with a highly conserved pattern of 6 cysteine and 2 glycine residues identical to that in leech antistasin. Conservation of antistasin in a lower metazoan provides a potential link between the vertebrate and invertebrate coagulation systems.

• Item Type: Article
• Keywords: Antistasin; Serine protease inhibitor; Factor Xa; Blood coagulation; Hydra
• Collections: Biology
• Subjects: 500 Science > 570 Life sciences; biology