Number and organization of collagen genes in Caenorhabditis elegans.

We analyzed the number and organization of collagen genes in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Genomic Southern blot hybridization experiments and recombinant phage library screenings indicated that C. elegans has between 40 and 150 distinct collagen genes. A large number of recombinant phages containing collagen genes were isolated from C. elegans DNA libraries. Physical mapping studies indicated that most phage contained a single small collagen gene less than 3 kilobases in size. A few phage contained multiple collagen hybridizing regions and may contain a larger collagen gene or several tightly linked small collagen genes. No overlaps were observed between phages containing different collagen genes, implying that the genes are dispersed in the C. elegans genome. Consistent with the small size of most collagen genes, we found that the predominant class of collagen mRNA in C. elegans is 1.2 to 1.4 kilobases in length. Genomic Southern blot experiments under stringent hybridization conditions revealed considerable sequence diversity among collagen genes. Our data suggest that most collagen genes are unique or are present in only a few copies.