Crosslinking of alpha 2-antiplasmin to fibrin

Human alpha 2-antiplasmin (alpha 2AP) is the primary inhibitor of plasmin-mediated fibrinolysis and is an efficient substrate of activated factor XIII (FXIIIa). Among 452 amino acid residues in alpha 2AP, Gln2 is believed to be the sole FXIIIa-reactive site that participates in crosslinking alpha 2AP to fibrin. We studied the effect of mutating Gln2 on the ability of FXIIIa to catalyze crosslinking of alpha 2AP to fibrin. By FXIIIa catalysis, [14C]methylamine was incorporated into a Q2A-alpha 2AP mutant in which Gln2 (Q) was replaced by Ala (A), thereby indicating that wildtype alpha 2AP has more than one FXIIIa-reactive site. To identify the FXIIIa-reactive sites in alpha 2AP, wildtype alpha 2AP and Q2A-alpha 2AP were labeled with 5-(biotinamido)pentylamine by FXIIIa. Each labeled alpha 2AP was digested with trypsin and applied to an avidin affinity column to capture labeled peptides. Edman sequencing and mass analysis of each labeled peptide showed that out of 35 Gln residues in wildtype alpha 2AP, four were labeled with the following order of efficiency: Gln2 > Gln21 > Gln419 > Gln447. Q2A-alpha 2AP was also labeled at the three minor sites, Gln21 > Gln419 > Gln447. Q2A-alpha 2AP became crosslinked to fibirin(ogen) by FXIIIa catalysis at approximately one-tenth the rate of wt-alpha 2AP. These results demonstrate that alpha 2AP has one primary (Gln2) and three minor substrate sites for FXIIIa and that the three minor sites identified in this study can also participate in crosslink formation between alpha 2AP and fibrin, but at a much lower efficiency than the Gln2 site.