Click here to close
Hello! We notice that you are using Internet Explorer, which is not supported by Xenbase and may cause the site to display incorrectly.
We suggest using a current version of Chrome,
FireFox, or Safari.
Glycobiology
2011 Dec 01;2112:1580-7. doi: 10.1093/glycob/cwr070.
Show Gene links
Show Anatomy links
A new type of lectin discovered in a fish, flathead (Platycephalus indicus), suggests an alternative functional role for mammalian plasma kallikrein.
Tsutsui S
,
Okamoto M
,
Ono M
,
Suetake H
,
Kikuchi K
,
Nakamura O
,
Suzuki Y
,
Watanabe T
.
???displayArticle.abstract???
A skin mucus lectin exhibiting a homodimeric structure and an S-S bond between subunits of ~40 kDa was purified from flathead Platycephalus indicus (Scorpaeniformes). This lectin, named FHL (FlatHead Lectin), exhibited mannose-specific activity in a Ca(2+)-dependent manner. Although FHL showed no homology to any previously reported lectins, it did exhibit ~20% identity to previously discovered plasma kallikreins and coagulation factor XIs of mammals and Xenopus laevis. These known proteins are serine proteases and play pivotal roles in the kinin-generating system or the blood coagulation pathway. However, alignment analysis revealed that while FHL lacked a serine protease domain, it was homologous to the heavy-chain domain of plasma kallikreins and coagulation factor XI therefore suggesting that FHL is not an enzyme but rather a novel animal lectin. On the basis of this finding, we investigated the lectin activity of human plasma kallikrein and revealed that it could indeed act as a lectin. Other genes homologous to FHL were also found in the genome databases of some fish species, but not in mammals. In contrast, plasma kallikreins and coagulation factor XI have yet to be identified in fish. The present findings suggest that these mammalian enzymes may have originally emerged as a lectin and may have evolved into molecules with protease activity after separation from common ancestors.
Fig. 1. SDSâPAGE analysis of FHL. Skin mucus extract (lanes 1 and 2) and the affinity-purified lectin (lanes 3 and 4) was subject to either non-reducing (lanes 1 and 3) or reducing (lanes 2 and 4) SDSâPAGE. M, molecular markers.
Fig. 2. Nucleotide sequence of cDNA and the deduced amino acid sequence of FHL. Numbers on the right indicate the nucleotide and amino acid position. The dashed lines indicate internal sequences obtained by protein sequencing. Predicted signal sequence is shown in italics, and the polyadenylation signal (AATAAA) is double underlined. Polymorphic mutations at positions 61 (C to A), 77 (T to C), 125 (C to T), 135 (G to C), 137 (T to G), 260 (T to C) and 696 (A to G) are underlined, and resulting amino acid changes (at amino acid positions 17 and 204) are circled.
Fig. 3. Comparison of the amino acid sequence of FHL with the plasma kallikreins and coagulation factor XIs of mammals and X. laevis. Numbers on the right indicate the amino acid position. Identical (*) and similar (: or .) residues identified by Clustal W are indicated. The cleavage site for enzyme activation in plasma kallikreins is indicated by arrowhead, and the catalytic triad residues (His, Asp and Ser) are boxed. Four apple domains (corresponding to human plasma kallikrein residues 21â104, 111â194, 201â284 and 292â375) are shown by arrows, and the upper line represents the serine protease domain. Abbreviations and accession numbers are as follows: Homo-PK, human H. sapiens plasma kallikrein (BC117351); Mus-PK, mouse M. musculus plasma kallikrein (BC026555); Rattus-PK, rat Rattus norvegicus plasma kallikrein (BC089815); Bos-PK, bovine Bos taurus plasma kallikrein (BC105498); Sus-PK, pig Sus scrofa plasma kallikrein (AB022425); Xenopus-PK, X. laevis plasma kallikrein (BC077417); Homo-fXI, H. sapiens factor XI (BC122863); Mus-fXI, M. musculus factor XI (BC019485); Bos-fXI, Bos taurus factor XI (AB196307) and Oryctolagus-fXI, rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus factor XI (AF395821).
Fig. 4. Gene expression of FHL in various tissues. Identical amounts of total RNA from the skin (1), gill (2), esophagus (3), stomach (4), intestine (5), liver (6), kidney (7), heart (8), spleen (9), ovary (10) and muscle (11) were isolated and reverse-transcribed to produce cDNA. PCR amplification was performed with specific primer-3 and -4 to amplify a partial sequence of FHL (A). Corresponding β-actin bands for these samples are shown in (B). M, marker; N, negative control.
Fig. 5. Hemagglutination activity of human plasma kallikrein. Human plasma kallikrein was incubated with PBS (+) only (1) or the same buffer including 1 mg/mL of fetuin (2) at room temperature for 1 h. Then, 2% rabbit red blood cell suspension was added. PBS (+) only (3) and fetuin-containing PBS (+) (4) were also used for negative controls.
Fig. 6. Structural relationship among plasma kallikrein, tissue kallikrein, coagulation factor XI and kalliklectin and their possible distribution. Black and white boxes represent the serine protease domain and the apple domain, respectively. Bar indicates SâS bond.
Chung,
Human plasma prekallikrein, a zymogen to a serine protease that contains four tandem repeats.
1986, Pubmed
Chung,
Human plasma prekallikrein, a zymogen to a serine protease that contains four tandem repeats.
1986,
Pubmed
Ciechanowicz,
Extra-hepatic transcription of plasma prekallikrein gene in human and rat tissues.
1993,
Pubmed
Drickamer,
Engineering galactose-binding activity into a C-type mannose-binding protein.
1992,
Pubmed
Fujikawa,
Amino acid sequence of human factor XI, a blood coagulation factor with four tandem repeats that are highly homologous with plasma prekallikrein.
1986,
Pubmed
Hajnik,
Characterization of a ribonucleic acid transcript from the brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) ovary with structural similarities to mammalian adipsin/complement factor D and tissue kallikrein, and the effects of kallikrein-like serine proteases on follicle contraction.
1998,
Pubmed
Haussmann,
Tissue expression of glandular kallikrein and its response to 17 beta-estradiol in the acclimatized carp.
2006,
Pubmed
Jiang,
The evolution of vertebrate blood coagulation as viewed from a comparison of puffer fish and sea squirt genomes.
2003,
Pubmed
Kamiya,
Purification and properties of agglutinins from conger eel, Conger Myriaster (Brevoort), skin mucus.
1988,
Pubmed
Kamiya,
Marine biopolymers with cell specificity. II. Purification and characterization of agglutinins from mucus of windowpane flounder Lophopsetta maculata.
1980,
Pubmed
Muramoto,
Functional and structural characterization of multiple galectins from the skin mucus of conger eel, Conger myriaster.
1999,
Pubmed
Muramoto,
The amino-acid sequence of a lectin from conger eel, Conger myriaster, skin mucus.
1992,
Pubmed
Nakamura,
Opsonic effect of congerin, a mucosal galectin of the Japanese conger, Conger myriaster (Brevoort).
2006,
Pubmed
Okamoto,
Tandem repeat L-rhamnose-binding lectin from the skin mucus of ponyfish, Leiognathus nuchalis.
2005,
Pubmed
Richards,
Distribution of tissue kallikreins in lower vertebrates: potential physiological roles for fish kallikreins.
1997,
Pubmed
Sharon,
Lectins: cell-agglutinating and sugar-specific proteins.
1972,
Pubmed
Tasumi,
Primary structure and characteristics of a lectin from skin mucus of the Japanese eel Anguilla japonica.
2002,
Pubmed
Tasumi,
Characteristics and primary structure of a galectin in the skin mucus of the Japanese eel, Anguilla japonica.
2004,
Pubmed
Tsutsui,
Common skate (Raja kenojei) secretes pentraxin into the cutaneous secretion: The first skin mucus lectin in cartilaginous fish.
2009,
Pubmed
Tsutsui,
Yeast-binding C-type lectin with opsonic activity from conger eel (Conger myriaster) skin mucus.
2007,
Pubmed
Tsutsui,
Lectins homologous to those of monocotyledonous plants in the skin mucus and intestine of pufferfish, Fugu rubripes.
2003,
Pubmed
Wuepper,
Plasma prekallikrein: isolation, characterization, and mechanism of activation.
1972,
Pubmed