Origin of serpin-mediated regulation of coagulation and blood pressure.

ABSTRACT: Vertebrates evolved an endothelium-lined hemostatic system and a pump-driven pressurized circulation with a finely-balanced coagulation cascade and elaborate blood pressure control over the past 500 million years. Genome analyses have identified principal components of the ancestral coagulation system, however, how this complex trait was originally regulated is largely unknown. Likewise, little is known about the roots of blood pressure control in vertebrates. Here we studied three members of the serpin superfamily that interfere with procoagulant activity and blood pressure of lampreys, a group of basal vertebrates. Angiotensinogen from these jawless fish was found to fulfill a dual role by operating as a highly selective thrombin inhibitor that is activated by heparin-related glycosamino

SUBMITTER: Wang Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4026541 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature