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Code for collagen's stability deciphered

Abstract

The most abundant protein in animals is collagen. In connective tissue, this protein is present as chains wound in tight triple helices which are organized into fibrils of great tensile strength and thermal stability1,2. We propose a new explanation for this stability.

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Figure 1: Circular dichroism spectra of collagen-related peptides.
Figure 2: Thermal denaturation of collagen-related triple helices.

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Holmgren, S., Taylor, K., Bretscher, L. et al. Code for collagen's stability deciphered. Nature 392, 666–667 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/33573

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