second Kunitz domain of WAP, Kazal, immunoglobulin, Kunitz and NTR domain-containing proteins
This subfamily includes WAP, Kazal, immunoglobulin, Kunitz and NTR domain-containing protein 1 (WFIKKN1, WFKN1), WFIKKN2 (WFKN2), and similar proteins. WFIKKN proteins are protease inhibitors that contain two distinct Kunitz-type protease inhibitor domains. They may have serine protease- and metalloprotease-inhibitor activity. This model represents the second Kunitz (KU2) domain, which has been shown to inhibit trypsin, but not chymotrypsin, elastase, plasmin, pancreatic kallikrein, lung tryptase, plasma kallikrein, thrombin, urokinase or tissue plasminogen activator. However, the inhibition constant of this domain for bovine trypsin is about five orders of magnitudes lower than that of bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor (BPTI) for trypsin. This could be due to unfavorable side-chain conformation of a tryptophan at P2' site which is incompatible with a trypsin complex; typical trypsin inhibitors of the Kunitz family feature a tyrosine residue or other less bulky residues at this site. The structure of KU2 is similar to those of Kunitz-type proteinase inhibitors such as BPTI (bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor), showing an alpha/beta fold with irregular secondary structure stabilized by three disulfide bonds.
Jiyao W et al.(2023). "The conserved domain database in 2023.",