Collagen fibrils axial packing

From the earlier work described here, it is clear that the collagen fibril is a complex structure. Many molecular species interplay to produce a fibril whose overall structure plays a specific role in the architecture of the tissue. In spite of such molecular heterogeneity, there are some central structural features of collagen packing that pertain more or less to all fibrillar structures. The purpose of this section is to discuss the generic and specific modulation in axial and lateral packing, and show how these lead to... 

TEM). The banding periodicity varies with age, species, pathology, and state (e.g., wet vs. dry) of the specimen. Molecularly different stmctures, like heterotypic type 1 and 111 collagen fibrils, show a similar liquid-like lateral ordering and axial packing. 

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