Understanding the anchoring interaction of coagulation factor Va light chain on zeolites: A molecular dynamics study

Factor Va (FXa) and Xa (FVa) can assemble on the phosphatidylserine (PS) membrane (of platelet) to form prothrombinase complex and contribute to blood clotting. Very recently, we discovered that Ca-zeoliteacts as a type of reinforced activated inorganic platelet to enable assembly of prothrombinase complex and display an unusual zymogen (prothrombin) activation pattern. Inspired but not constrained by nature, it is of great interest to understand how FVa and FXa assembly on the inorganic surface (e.g., zeolites) and perform their biocatalytic function.

Given the important role of FVa C1-C2 domains in the assembly and activity of the prothrombinase complex, in this work, molecular dynamics simulations were performed to investigate the binding details of FVa A3-C1-C2 domains on the PS membranes and Ca²⁺-LTA-type (CaA) zeolite surface.

We found that different from the natural PS membrane, FVa light chain repeatedly exhibits a strong C2 domain anchoring interaction on the CaA zeolite. It mainly arises from the porous surface structure of CaA zeolite and local highly dense solvation water clusters on the CaA zeolite surface restrict the movement of some lysine residues on the C2 domain. The anchoring interaction can be suppressed by reducing the surface negative charge density, so that FVa light chain can change from single-foot (only C2 domain) to double-foot (both C1-C2 domain) adsorption states on the zeolite surface. This double-foot adsorption state is similar to natural PS membrane systems, which may make FVa have higher cofactor activity.