Description
This gene encodes coagulation factor VII which is a vitamin K-dependent factor essential for hemostasis. This factor circulates in the blood in a zymogen form, and is converted to an active form by either factor IXa, factor Xa, factor XIIa, or thrombin by minor proteolysis. Upon activation of the factor VII, a heavy chain containing a catalytic domain and a light chain containing 2 EGF-like domains are generated, and two chains are held together by a disulfide bond. In the presence of factor III and calcium ions, the activated factor then further activates the coagulation cascade by converting factor IX to factor IXa and/or factor X to factor Xa. Defects in this gene can cause coagulopathy. Alternative splicing results in multiple transcript variants encoding different isoforms that may undergo similar proteolytic processing to generate mature polypeptides.