A tripeptide deletion in the triple-helical domain of the pro alpha 1(I) chain of type I procollagen in a patient with lethal osteogenesis imperfecta does not alter cleavage of the molecule by N-proteinase.

Dermal fibroblasts from a fetus with perinatal lethal osteogenesis imperfecta synthesized normal and abnormal type I procollagen molecules. The abnormal molecules contained one or two pro alpha 1(I) chains in which glycine, alanine, and hydroxyproline at positions 874, 875, and 876 in the triple-helical region were deleted as the result of a 9-base pair genomic deletion. Molecules that contained abnormal chains were overmodified from the site of the deletion toward the amino-terminal region of the molecule. Secretion of the overmodified molecules was impaired. The thermal stability of molecules containing abnormal chains was lower than that of normally modified molecules. After cleavage of molecules with vertebrate collagenase, the temperature of thermal denaturation of the overmodified A fragments was greater than that of the fragments from the normal molecules. The rates of cleavage of the normal and the abnormal molecules by N-proteinase were indistinguishable. Our findings suggest that the tripeptide deletion introduces a shift in the phase of the chains in the triple helix. This structural change is propagated from the site of the deletion toward the amino terminus of the molecule, but the subsequent alteration in the structure of the N-proteinase cleavage site is not sufficient to cause a decrease in the rate of cleavage by the enzyme.