Potential implications of the glycosylation patterns in collagen α1(I) and α2(I) chains for fibril assembly and growth

• Published in: Journal of structural biology Vol. 215; no. 1; p. 107938
• Main Authors: Visser, D.R., Loo, T.S., Norris, G.E, Parry, David A.D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.03.2023
• Subjects: Animals; Collagen - metabolism; Collagen type I; Collagen Type I - metabolism; Fibrillogenesis; Glycosylation; Lysine - metabolism; Mass spectrometry; Periodicity; Proteomics; Fibrillogenesis; Glycosylation; Collagen type I; Mass spectrometry; Periodicity
• ISSN: 1047-8477; 1095-8657
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jsb.2023.107938

[Display omitted] •Post-translational modifications of collagen from four animals are identified.•Nine new hydroxylysine glycosylation sites identified in collagen Type I.•Lysine oxidation patterns in collagen type I display species variation.•d-periodic axial distribution of glycosylated hydroxylysines implies a structural role.•Glycosylated lysine residues may play a part in assembly and size limitation of fibrils. O-Glycosylation of hydroxylysine (Hyl) in collagen occurs at an early stage of biosynthesis before the triple-helix has formed. This simple post-translational modification (PTM) of lysine by either a galactosyl or glucosylgalactosyl moiety is highly conserved in collagens and depends on the species, type of tissue and the collagen amino acid sequence. The structural/functional reason why only specific lysines are modified is poorly understood, and has led to increased efforts to map the sites of PTMs on collagen sequences from different species and to ascertain their potential role in vivo. To investigate this, we purified collagen type I (Col1) from the skins of four animals, then used mass spectrometry and proteomic techniques to identify lysines that were oxidised, galactosylated, glucosylgalactosylated, or glycated in its mature sequence. We found 18 out of the 38 lysines in collagen type Iα1, (Col1A1) and 7 of the 30 lysines in collagen type Iα2 (Col1A2) were glycosylated. Six of these modifications had not been reported before, and included a lysine involved in crosslinking collagen molecules. A Fourier transform analysis of the positions of the glycosylated hydroxylysines showed they display a regular axial distribution with the same d-period observed in collagen fibrils. The significance of this finding in terms of the assembly of collagen molecules into fibrils and of potential restrictions on the growth of the collagen fibrils is discussed.