Expression of the structure gene (Pro) collagen of alpaca skin.

Collagen is a big protein family,which is expressed highly in vertebrates and whose members are synthesized as inactive procollagen precursors which produce collagen by proteolysized.Collagen family providing structural support and strength to the extracellular matrixes of bone,cartilage,skin,blood vessels and most other connective tissues,forms the protective layer of skin and is the one of the factors deciding the skin structure.In order to find the molecular mechanism of collagen involving in the alpaca skin formation,cDNA library was constructed and sequenced.In the profile gene expression of alpaca skin,only fibrila collagen that was type I,type III,typeV collagen were expressed and the expression of type I collagen was highest.However,procollagens were not expressed corresponding to collagen.The type I,type III,type IV,type VI,type VII,type XVII procollagen were found to be expressed.Moreover,the expression of type I procollage was more higher than other members.From the results,it was deduced that type I(pro)collagen played the main role in the structure formation of alpaca skin,and that the proteolysization mechanism could make procollagen pruduce different collagen.