title: Mini-collagens in hydra nematocytes.
abstract: We have isolated and characterized four collagen-related c-DNA clones (N-COL 1, N-COL 2, N-COL 3, N-COL 4) that are highly expressed in developing nematocytes in hydra. All four c-DNAs as well as their corresponding transcripts are small in size (600-1,000 bp). The deduced amino acid sequences show that they contain a central region consisting of 14 to 16 Gly-X-Y triplets. This region is flanked amino-terminal by a stretch of 14-23 proline residues and carboxy-terminal by a stretch of 6-9 prolines. At the NH2- and COOH-termini are repeated patterns of cysteine residues that are highly conserved between the molecules. A model is proposed which consists of a central stable collagen triple helix of 12-14 nm length from which three 9-22 nm long polyproline II type helices emerge at both ends. Disulfide linkage between cysteine-rich segments in these helices could lead to the formation of oligomeric network structures. Electrophoretic characterization of nematocyst extracts allows resolution of small proline-rich polypeptides that correspond in size to the cloned sequences.
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, University of Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: E M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Kurz
authors.forename: T W
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Holstein
authors.forename: B M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Petri
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Engel
authors.forename: C N
authors.initials: CN
authors.lastname: David
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D003094:Collagen / Q000235:genetics*; D004247:DNA / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006829:Hydra / Q000166:cytology / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D016415:Sequence Alignment
chemical_list: D003094:Collagen; D004247:DNA