Physiology 3140A Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Muscular Dystrophy, Hemidesmosome, Glycosaminoglycan
10 Dec 2013
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Document Summary
Collagen is the most abundant component in the ecm. There is an alpha helix and we have 3 of them to form a trimer. 3 alpha helical polypeptides, these 3 things will wind together to form the collagen fibril. The amino acids that sit in the middle of the alpha helix that wraps around itself are the small amino acids, glycine. Glycine is a small amino acid that allows for no external subunits sticking out. It doesn"t get in the way of he alpha helix forming. There are 2 other amino acids that repeats and it is usually proline and hydroyproline. They wrap around together to form a trimeric alpha helix. In the collagen polypeptide there is a globular n domain and a c domain. Both termini have a globular domain (not a helix). When the polypeptides are made the globular domain exist. We need those domains to help wind the alpha helix, or the trimer together.
