MOLECULAR CHARACTERIZATION OF FIBRILLAR COLLAGEN FROM THE BODY WALL OF STARFISH ASTERIAS-AMURENSIS

1. The body wall collagen of starfish Asterias amurensis was disaggregatcd into fibrils in a neutral salt solution containing beta-mercaptoethanol and then solubilized by limited pepsin digestion. 2. The pepsin-solubilized collagen was shown to consist of (alpha 1)2alpha2 heterotrimers, each alpha chain having a molecular weight of about 100,000. 3. These collagen alpha chains had close similarities in the compositional feature of amino acids to Type I collagen alpha chains of lower vertebrates such as hagfish and shark. 4. Other species of starfish, Asterina pectinifera and Acanthaster planci, contained the same type of fibrillar collagen as a main supporting material in the body walls.