Two sets of interacting collagens form functionally distinct substructures within a Caenorhabditis elegans extracellular matrix.

ABSTRACT: A ubiquitous feature of collagens is protein interaction, the trimerization of monomers to form a triple helix followed by higher order interactions during the formation of the mature extracellular matrix. The Caenorhabditis elegans cuticle is a complex extracellular matrix consisting predominantly of cuticle collagens, which are encoded by a family of approximately 154 genes. We identify two discrete interacting sets of collagens and show that they form functionally distinct matrix substructures. We show that mutation in or RNA-mediated interference of a gene encoding a collagen belonging to one interacting set affects the assembly of other members of that set, but not those belonging to the other set. During cuticle synthesis, the collagen genes are expressed in a distinct temporal serie

SUBMITTER: McMahon L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC153107 | biostudies-literature | 2003 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature