The course of lysine hydroxylation during collagen biosynthesis

Lysine is the obligatory precursor of the 5-hydroxylysine of collagen in rats and presumably in other species. Hydroxylysine, either fed or injected, is not incorporated into collagen. It seems probably that lysine is hydroxyated as a bound amino acid during the course of collagen synthesis. The biochemical mechanism of the introduction of the hydroxyl group onto the number 5 carbon atom of lysine has been studied recently, using lysine labeled with tritium in specific positions.