A Disintegrin And Metalloproteinase With Thrombospondin 6 (ADAMTS6)

The predicted 860-amino acid ADAMTS6 protein has a domain structure characteristic of ADAMTSs. Beginning at the N terminus, it has a preproregion containing a potential furin cleavage site and a putative cysteine-switch, a catalytic domain containing a typical reprolysin-type zinc-binding signature and a 'met turn,' a disintegrin-like domain, a conserved thrombospondin module, a cysteine-rich domain, a spacer domain, and a second, less conserved thrombospondin module. The mature ADAMTS6 protein has 2 potential N-linked glycosylation sites. Northern blot analysis of several human tissues detected an approximately 8.5-kb ADAMTS6 transcript that was expressed at low levels in placenta and at barely detectable levels in a number of other tissues. Adamts6 was not detectably expressed during mouse embryo development.