Abstract
THE structure of fibrous proteins has long been a subject of controversy. X-ray and electron microscope evidence has accumulated which suggests that single chains may not run the whole length of the fibril, but that the latter is made up of an aggregation of smaller parts of quite definite size. In collagen the sub-unit has been considered1 to be a protofibril of size about 640 × 12 A., although recently Schmitt2 has proposed a unit of about 2000 × 50 A., which he has named ‘tropocollagen’. Striations of axial lengths about 210 A. (particularly in developing material3) and 70 A. 4 are also observed in electron micrographs of collagen. It is of interest to note that evidence for structure of size approximately 200 A. is found in α-keratin5 and 230 A. in fibrin6, although the recurrence of this figure may be no more than coincidental.
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References
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NORTH, A., COWAN, P. & RANDALL, J. Structural Units in Collagen Fibrils. Nature 174, 1142–1143 (1954). https://doi.org/10.1038/1741142a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/1741142a0
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