Cloning and Expression of a cDNA Coding for the Anticoagulant Hirudin from the Bloodsucking Leech, Hirudo medicinalis

Cloned cDNAs have been isolated that encode a variant of hirudin, a potent thrombin inhibitor that is secreted by the salivary glands of the medicinal leech, Hirudo medicinalis. This variant probably corresponds to a form that has been purified from leech heads but differs in amino acid sequence from the hirudin purified from whole leeches. There are at least three hirudin transcripts detectable in leech RNAs that are different in size, site of synthesis, inducibility by starvation, and relationship to hirudin activity. The new hirudin variant predicted by the cDNA and the heterodisperse transcription products suggest a hirudin protein family. The hirudin cDNA was expressed in Escherichia coli under the control of the bacteriophage λ PL promoter. The recombinant product is biologically active, inhibiting the cleavage by thrombin of fibrinogen and a synthetic tripeptide substrate.