Intermediates in the limited proteolytic conversion of procollagen to collagen.

The conversion of chick bone procollagen to collagen proceeds in a stepwise fashion to produce a limited number of intermediates. Initial proteolytic cleavages remove NH2-terminal nonhelical extensions and yield an intermediate which remains disulfide-bonded via COOH-terminal extensions. Subsequent stepwise scission of one or two chains of the triple-stranded molecule in its COOH-terminal domain produces intermediates which can only be distinguished after dissociation of the noncovalently bonded alpha chains. A final cleavage in this region produces the collagen molecule and a disulfide-bonded triple-stranded fragment which represents the COOH-terminal domain. In all likelihood the endopeptidases which effect cleavage in the NH2- and COOH-terminal regions differ. More than two enzymes may be required for conversion of procollagen to collagen if the nonhelical domains are not released in an en bloc fashion.