Characterization of human blood coagulation factor XII cDNA. Prediction of the primary structure of factor XII and the tertiary structure of beta-factor XIIa.

A human liver cDNA library was screened by colony hybridization with two mixtures of synthetic oligodeoxyribonucleotides as probes. These oligonucleotides encoded regions of beta-factor XIIa as predicted from the amino acid sequence. Four positive clones were isolated that contained DNA coding for most of factor XII mRNA. DNA sequence analysis of these overlapping clones showed that they contained DNA coding for part of an amino-terminal extension, the complete amino acid sequence of plasma factor XII, a TGA stop codon, a 3' untranslated region of 150 nucleotides, and a poly(A)+ tail. The cDNA sequence predicts that plasma factor XII consists of 596 amino acid residues. Within the predicted amino acid sequence of factor XII, we have identified three peptide bonds that are cleaved by kallikrein during the formation of beta-factor XIIa. Comparison of the structure of factor XII with other proteins revealed extensive sequence identity with regions of tissue-type plasminogen activator (the epidermal growth factor-like region and the kringle region) and fibronectin (type I and type II homologies). As the type II region of fibronectin contains a collagen-binding site, the homologous region in factor XII may be responsible for the binding of factor XII to collagen. The carboxyl-terminal region of factor XII shares considerable amino acid sequence homology with other serine proteases including trypsin and many clotting factors. A preliminary structural model of beta-factor XIIa is proposed based on the known high resolution x-ray diffraction structures of trypsin, chymotrypsin, and elastase.