Abstract
Glycine is required as every third residue in the collagen triple-helix, and a missense mutation leading to the replacement of even one Gly in the repeating (Gly-Xaa-Yaa)
n
sequence by a larger residue leads to a pathological condition. Gly to Ala missense mutations are highly underrepresented in osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) and other collagen diseases, suggesting that the smallest replacement residue Ala might cause the least structural perturbation and mildest clinical consequences. The relatively small number of Gly to Ala mutation sites that do lead to OI must have some unusual features, such as greater structural disruption due to local sequence environment or location at a biologically important site. Here, peptides are used to model a severe OI case where a Gly to Ala mutation is found within a highly stabilizing Lys-
Gly
-Asp sequence environment. NMR, CD and DSC studies indicate this Gly to Ala replacement leads to a substantial loss in triple-helix stability and non-equivalence of the Ala residues in the three chains such that only one of the three Ala residues is capable of form a good backbone hydrogen bond. Examination of reported OI Gly to Ala mutations suggests preferential location at known collagen binding sites, and we propose that structural defects due to Ala replacements may lead to pathology when interfering with interactions.