NC Oral Health Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC 27599, U.S.A.
Essays Biochem. 2012;52:113-33. doi: 10.1042/bse0520113.
Type I collagen is the most abundant structural protein in vertebrates. It is a heterotrimeric molecule composed of two α1 chains and one α2 chain, forming a long uninterrupted triple helical structure with short non-triple helical telopeptides at both the N- and C-termini. During biosynthesis, collagen acquires a number of post-translational modifications, including lysine modifications, that are critical to the structure and biological functions of this protein. Lysine modifications of collagen are highly complicated sequential processes catalysed by several groups of enzymes leading to the final step of biosynthesis, covalent intermolecular cross-linking. In the cell, specific lysine residues are hydroxylated to form hydroxylysine. Then specific hydroxylysine residues located in the helical domain of the molecule are glycosylated by the addition of galactose or glucose-galactose. Outside the cell, lysine and hydroxylysine residues in the N- and C-telopeptides can be oxidatively deaminated to produce reactive aldehydes that undergo a series of non-enzymatic condensation reactions to form covalent intra- and inter-molecular cross-links. Owing to the recent advances in molecular and cellular biology, and analytical technologies, the biological significance and molecular mechanisms of these modifications have been gradually elucidated. This chapter provides an overview on these enzymatic lysine modifications and subsequent cross-linking.
Ⅰ型胶原蛋白是脊椎动物中最丰富的结构蛋白。它是一种三聚体分子,由两条α1 链和一条α2 链组成,形成一个长的连续三螺旋结构,在 N 端和 C 端都有短的非三螺旋末端肽。在生物合成过程中,胶原蛋白获得了许多翻译后修饰,包括赖氨酸修饰,这些修饰对该蛋白质的结构和生物学功能至关重要。胶原蛋白的赖氨酸修饰是由几类酶催化的高度复杂的顺序过程,导致生物合成的最后一步,即共价分子间交联。在细胞中,特定的赖氨酸残基被羟化形成羟赖氨酸。然后,分子螺旋区的特定羟赖氨酸残基通过添加半乳糖或葡萄糖-半乳糖被糖基化。在细胞外,N 端和 C 端末端肽中的赖氨酸和羟赖氨酸残基可以被氧化脱氨产生反应性醛,这些醛经历一系列非酶促缩合反应,形成共价的分子内和分子间交联。由于分子和细胞生物学以及分析技术的最新进展,这些修饰的生物学意义和分子机制逐渐得到阐明。本章概述了这些酶促赖氨酸修饰和随后的交联。