Difference between revisions of "Part:BBa K2524001"

Latest revision as of 21:15, 1 November 2017

Limulus Clotting Factor C

Factor C is an intracellular endotoxin sensitive serine protease zymogen which initiates a coagulation cascade in the hemolymph of the Horseshoe crab (Limulus). It is apart of their immune system. The Factor C protein is the first in a cascade that causes their blood to clot in the presence of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) located on the outer membrane of gram-negative bacteria. When Factor C is in the presence of LPS it undergoes autocatalysis. This is very helpful upon detection of minuscule concentrations of gram-negative bacteria. Factor C is a glycoprotein with a molecular mass of 123 kD. It has an Heavy chain (80kD) and Light chain (43 kD). In the presence of LPS, factor C is activated and undergoes autocatalysis and cleaves the Phe-Ile bond. This autocatalysis results in the formation of two new fragments: B chain (34kD) and A chain (8.5 kD). Sequence and Features