Carboxyl Collagen

Yang, J. and Kramer, J.M. (1994) In vitro mutagenesis of Caenorhabditis elegans cuticle collagens identifies a potential subtilisin-like protease cleavage site and demonstrates that carboxyl domain disulfide bonding is required for normal function but not assembly. Molecular and Cellular Biology 14, 2722-2730. 

For most collagens, the folding of the triple helical domain proceeds from the carboxyl end toward the amino end of the trimeric molecule in a zipper-like fashion with a rate that is limited by cis—trans isomerization of peptidyl prolyl bonds." The fast propagation of the triple helix formation is followed by a slower folding... 

A role for a collagenase, presumably fibroblast-type collagenase, in bone resorption has been indicated by studies employing the Searle A-carboxyl alkyl synthetic collagenase inhibitor CI-1 (compound (197) in Table 8.18) and its less potent stereoisomer CI-2 (compound (198) in Table 8.18) [207]. Cultured embryonic mouse calvaria treated with parathyroid hormone exhibit loss of calcium and show pronounced collagen resorption. CI-1 inhibited the collagen resorption in a dose-dependent manner at significantly lower concentrations than CI-2, but had only a small effect on calcium loss. This inhibitory effect was reversible and not due to inhibitor cytotoxicity. 

The simple self-crosslinking treatment also crosslinks GAG chains to collagen [30]. The reaction kinetics are outlined in Fig. 2. The mechanism probably involves condensation of amino groups of collagen with carboxylic groups of glucuronic acid residues on the repeat unit of chondroitin 6-sulfate. Dehydra-... 

Fig. 2. Kinetics of cross-linking of chondroitin 6-sulfate, a glycosaminoglycan (GAG), to collagen following exposure to 105 °C under 6.7 Pa (50 mtorr). The mechanism of cross-linking is most probably interchain amide condensation involving e-amino groups of lysyl residues on collagen chains with carboxylic groups on glucuronic acid residues in neighboring GAG chains (From [30] with permission).

Because concanavalin A also inhibited the conversion of procollagen into collagen by carboxyl-terminal protease, it was suggested that this protease contains oligosaccharide side-chains that are recognized by concanavalin A, and that tunicamycin affects the secretion, activity, or activation of this enzyme.484... 

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