title: Fibulins: a versatile family of extracellular matrix proteins.
abstract: Fibulins are a newly recognized family of extracellular matrix proteins. The five known members of the family share an elongated structure and many calcium-binding sites, owing to the presence of tandem arrays of epidermal growth factor-like domains. They have overlapping binding sites for several basement-membrane proteins, tropoelastin, fibrillin, fibronectin and proteoglycans, and they participate in diverse supramolecular structures. New insights into their biological roles are now emerging from studies of transgenic mice and of some inherited human diseases.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Protein Chemistry, Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry, D-82152 Martinsried, Germany. timpl@biochem.mpg.de
authors.forename: Rupert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Timpl
authors.forename: Takako
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sasaki
authors.forename: Günter
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kostka
authors.forename: Mon-Li
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Chu
mesh_terms: D017398:Alternative Splicing; D000818:Animals; D001665:Binding Sites; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism; D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology*; D002455:Cell Division; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D019281:Dimerization; D005091:Exons; D005109:Extracellular Matrix / Q000378:metabolism*; D007438:Introns; D008024:Ligands; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D008954:Models, Biological; D008958:Models, Molecular; D011485:Protein Binding; D020033:Protein Isoforms; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary
chemical_list: D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins; D008024:Ligands; D020033:Protein Isoforms; C060820:fibulin; D002118:Calcium