Functional Significance of NC1 Containing Alpha-3-Chains of Type IV Collagen

Type IV (tIV) collagen forms the supportive scaffold of most basement membranes. A property of this glycoprotein is the ability to polymerize by binding to adjacent tIV molecules in a specific manner. Most functional studies, including reports from our group, have focused on tIV derived from the EHS tumor which is the only basement membrane collagen that can be extracted intact and in high yields. This particular form of tIV has the composition: (α1)2(α2). Recently, novel chains have been reported in the glomerular and other basement membranes. Protein components of the NCI domain of an α3(IV), α4(IV) and the cDNA of an α3NCI with EHS-tIV and compare them with interactions between whole, b-GBM-NCI and α1NC1 to EHS-tIV.