title: Collectins--soluble proteins containing collagenous regions and lectin domains--and their roles in innate immunity.
abstract: The collectins are a group of mammalian lectins containing collagen-like regions. They include mannan binding protein, bovine conglutinin, lung surfactant protein A, lung surfactant protein D, and a newly discovered bovine protein named collectin-43. These proteins share a very similar modular domain composition and overall 3-dimensional structure. They also appear to play similar biological roles in the preimmune defense against micro-organisms in both serum and lung surfactant. The close evolutionary relationship between the collectins is further emphasized by a common pattern of exons in their genomic structures and the presence of a gene cluster on chromosome 10 in humans that contains the genes known for the human collectins. Studies on the structure/function relationships within the collectins could provide insight into the properties of a growing number of proteins also containing collagenous regions such as C1q, the hibernation protein, the alpha- and beta-ficolins, as well as the membrane acetylcholinesterase and the macrophage scavenger receptor.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: H J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Hoppe
authors.forename: K B
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Reid
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002240:Carbohydrate Sequence; D003094:Collagen / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D007109:Immunity; D037102:Lectins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D015394:Molecular Structure; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D014018:Tissue Distribution
chemical_list: D037102:Lectins; D003094:Collagen