Platelet factor 4 (PF4) and low affinity platelet factor 4 (LA-PF4) are platelet-specific secreted proteins that bind to heparin. β-thromboglobulin (βTG) appears to be derived from LA-PF4 by proteolysis of four NH2-terminal residues. PF4 and LA-PF4 (βTG) show 50% sequence homology including four cysteine residues and two pairs of lysine residues near the C00H-terminus which are believed to be responsible for heparin binding. Despite these similarities, the two proteins have markedly different affinities for heparin. We have sought a structural interpretation of this difference by predicting the conformations of 0TG, LA-PF4 and PF4. First, the proportion of residues in α-helical, β-sheet and unordered conformations was estimated from circular dichroism measurements. The results for PF4 and LA-PF4 were experimentally identical, namely 16% α-helix and 20% β-sheet. These values were then applied as experimental constraints in the prediction of the secondary structure of PF4 and LA-PF4 based on their amino acid sequences. This was done by a computer program which compared local amino acid sequence (each residue and 8 residues on either side) with the conformation of similar sequences in 25 proteins of known structure. With the further constraint of the two disulfide bonds in each molecule, models were constructed representing the overall folding of the polypeptide chains. The only significant difference between the two proteins was in the COOH-terminal region of the chains. The models suggest that the lower affinity of LA-PF4 (and βTG) for heparin may result from steric hindrance by the longer and more negatively charged COOH-terminal segments of these molecules compared with PF4.
Backbone and side-chain dynamics of residues in a partially folded β-sheet peptide from platelet factor-4
