title: Guilty by association: some collagen II mutants alter the formation of ECM as a result of atypical interaction with fibronectin.
abstract: Among the structural components of extracellular matrices (ECM) fibrillar collagens play a critical role, and single amino acid substitutions in these proteins lead to pathological changes in tissues in which they are expressed. Employing a biologically relevant experimental model consisting of cells expressing R75C, R519C, R789C, and G853E procollagen II mutants, we found that the R789C mutation causing a decrease in the thermostability of collagen not only alters individual collagen molecules and collagen fibrils, but also has a negative impact on fibronectin. We propose that thermolabile collagen molecules are able to bind to fibronectin, thereby altering intracellular and extracellular processes in which fibronectin takes part, and we postulate that such an atypical interaction could change the architecture of the ECM of affected tissues in patients harboring mutations in genes encoding fibrillar collagens.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology and Cutaneous Biology, Jefferson Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA 19107, USA.
authors.forename: Hidetoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.forename: Eileen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rucker
authors.forename: Andrzej
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Steplewski
authors.forename: Erin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: McAdams
authors.forename: Raymond J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Brittingham
authors.forename: Tatiana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Alabyeva
authors.forename: Andrzej
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fertala
mesh_terms: D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D024043:Collagen Type II / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D045604:Extracellular Fluid / Q000378:metabolism; D005109:Extracellular Matrix / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005353:Fibronectins / Q000378:metabolism*; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D009154:Mutation; D011347:Procollagen / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D011485:Protein Binding; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D024043:Collagen Type II; D005353:Fibronectins; D011347:Procollagen; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins