Slow thrombin is zymogen-like.

ABSTRACT: Blood coagulation is the result of a cascade of zymogen activation events; however, its initiation is allosteric. Factor VIIa circulates in a zymogen-like state and is allosterically activated by binding to tissue factor. Thrombin, the final protease generated in the blood coagulation cascade, has also been shown to exist in a low activity state in the absence of cofactors, and the structural features of this 'slow' form have been studied for many years. In this manuscript, I will review the general features that render zymogens inactive and how proteolytic cleavage results in activation, but I will also show how this distinction is blurred by zymogens that have activity (protease-like zymogens) and proteases with low activity (zymogen-like proteases). This will then be applied in the anal

SUBMITTER: Huntington JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2717038 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature