AFM Imaging Reveals Multiple Conformational States of ADAMTS13

BACKGROUND: ADAMTS13 (A disintegrin and metalloprotease with a thrombospondin type 1 motif 13) cleaves Von Willebrand factor (VWF) to regulate its size, thereby preventing aberrant platelet aggregation and thrombus. Deficiency of ADAMTS13 caused by either genetic mutations or by inhibitory autoantibodies against ADAMTS13 leads to thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP). Recently, ADAMTS13 was reported to adopt a “closed” conformation with lower activity and an “open” one resulting from the engagements of VWF D4-CK domains or antibodies to the distal domains of ADAMTS13, or mutations in its spacer domain. These engagements or mutations increase ADAMTS13 activity by ~ 2.5-fold. However, it is less known whether the conformation of ADAMTS13 is dynamic or stable. RESULTS: Wild type ADAMTS13 (WT-ADAMTS13) and the gain-of-function variant (GOF-ADAMTS13) with five mutations (R568K / F592Y / R660K / Y661F / Y665F) in spacer domain were imaged by atomic force microscopy (AFM) at pH 6 and pH 7.5. The data revealed that at both pH 6 and pH 7.5, WT-ADAMTS13 adopted two distinct conformational states (state I and state II), while an additional state (state III) was observed in GOF-ADAMTS13. In the present study, we propose that state I is the “closed” conformation, state III is the “open” one, and state II is an intermediate one. Comparing to pH 7.5, the percentages of state II of WT-ADAMTS13 and state III of GOF-ADAMTS13 increased at pH 6, with the decrease in the state I for WT-ADAMTS13 and state I and state II for GOF-ADAMTS13, suggesting lower pH extended the conformation of ADAMTS13. CONCLUSION: Both WT- and GOF-ADAMTS13 exist multiple conformational states and lower pH might alter the tertiary structure and/or disrupt the intra-domain interactions, increasing the flexibility of ADAMTS13 molecules. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s13036-018-0102-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.