Molecular packing in type I collagen fibrils. A model with neighbouring collagen molecules aligned in axial register |
| |
Authors: | A V Kajava |
| |
Affiliation: | Institute of Protein Research, Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R., Moscow. |
| |
Abstract: | A detailed stereochemical analysis of intermolecular interactions of collagens made with molecular models and summarized experimental data resulted in a new three-dimensional structural model for collagen fibrils. In this model collagen molecules aligned in axial register form a bunch. The bunches are aligned head to tail and penetrate by 300 A into each other, forming microfibrils; these in turn assemble into fibrils. The new model differs from all the others in that its characteristic axial regularity, with a period of 670 A, results from staggering of the adjacent microfibrils formed by unstaggered molecules rather than from the axial staggering of neighbouring collagen molecules. |
| |
Keywords: | |
|
|