Tj. Wess et al., FIBRILLIN-RICH MICROFIBRILS - AN X-RAY-DIFFRACTION STUDY OF THE FUNDAMENTAL AXIAL PERIODICITY, FEBS letters, 413(3), 1997, pp. 424-428
Microfibrils are ubiquitous matrix polymers which are thought to provi
de elastic properties in all extracellular matrix structures, The majo
r component of the elastic microfibrils is the protein fibrillin; its
molecular structure is unknown, In electron microscopy, microfibrils a
ppear as beaded structures exhibiting a variable periodicity, indicati
ng that they may be elastomeric, The X-ray diffraction of fibrillin-ri
ch microfibrils in the form of zonular filaments from bovine eyes exhi
bits meridional diffraction peaks indexing on a fundamental periodicit
y of 55 nm in the relaxed state, The application of a 40% extension pr
oduced a lengthening of the periodicity by 3% as judged by alteration
of the D spacing of the principal peaks, This effect was shown to be r
eversible, Changes in the periodicity of the meridional reflections in
dicate changes in the fundamental structure of the microfilaments, but
cannot account for all long range elastomeric properties of fibrillin
-containing microfibrils. (C) 1997 Federation of European Biochemical
Societies.