Figure 1.
A schematic illustrating the shear-resistant and shear-responsive characteristics of GPIb-IX binding to VWF A1 domain. Left: GPIbα with folded mechanosensory domain (MSD) prior to VWF binding. Right: VWF binds to GPIbα via a shear force-resistant “catch bond”. Shear force, via GPIb-bound VWF, unfolds MSD of GPIbα, which subsequently changes the conformation of the transmembrane complex of GPIb-IX, resulting in cross-membrane signal transduction and regulating the interactions with proteins important for GPIb-IX-initiated intracellular signaling.