Type I collagen is the most abundant structural protein in vertebrates. It is a heterotrimeric molecule composed of two α1 chains and one α2 chain, forming a long uninterrupted triple helical structure with short non-triple helical telopeptides at both the N- and C-termini. During biosynthesis, collagen acquires a number of post-translational modifications, including lysine modifications, that are critical to the structure and biological functions of this protein. Lysine modifications of collagen are highly complicated sequential processes catalysed by several groups of enzymes leading to the final step of biosynthesis, covalent intermolecular cross-linking. In the cell, specific lysine residues are hydroxylated to form hydroxylysine. Then specific hydroxylysine residues located in the helical domain of the molecule are glycosylated by the addition of galactose or glucose-galactose. Outside the cell, lysine and hydroxylysine residues in the N- and C-telopeptides can be oxidatively deaminated to produce reactive aldehydes that undergo a series of non-enzymatic condensation reactions to form covalent intra- and inter-molecular cross-links. Owing to the recent advances in molecular and cellular biology, and analytical technologies, the biological significance and molecular mechanisms of these modifications have been gradually elucidated. This chapter provides an overview on these enzymatic lysine modifications and subsequent cross-linking.

Background: Type I collagen is the most abundant organic component in bone, providing form and stability. Results: Lysyl hydroxylase 3-mediated glucosylation occurs at specific sites in collagen, including cross-linking sites, and suppression of this modification results in defective collagen and mineralization. Conclusion:The data indicate the critical importance of this modification in bone physiology. Significance: Alterations of this collagen modification may cause bone defects.

Lysyl hydroxylase 3 (LH3), encoded by Plod3, is the multifunctional collagen-modifying enzyme possessing LH, hydroxylysine galactosyltransferase (GT), and galactosylhydroxylysine-glucosyltransferase (GGT) activities. Although an alteration in type I collagen glycosylation has been implicated in several osteogenic disorders, the role of LH3 in bone physiology has never been investigated. To elucidate the function of LH3 in bone type I collagen modifications, we used a short hairpin RNA technology in a mouse osteoblastic cell line, MC3T3-E1; generated single cell-derived clones stably suppressing LH3 (short hairpin (Sh) clones); and characterized the phenotype. Plod3 expression and the LH3 protein levels in the Sh clones were significantly suppressed when compared with the controls, MC3T3-E1, and the clone transfected with an empty vector. In comparison with controls, type I collagen synthesized by Sh clones (Sh collagen) showed a significant decrease in the extent of glucosylgalactosylhydroxylysine with a concomitant increase of galactosylhydroxylysine, whereas the total number of hydroxylysine residues was essentially unchanged. In an in vitro fibrillogenesis assay, Sh collagen showed accelerated fibrillogenesis compared with the controls. In addition, when recombinant LH3-V5/His protein was generated in 293 cells and subjected to GGT/GT activity assay, it showed GGT but not GT activity against denatured type I collagen. The results from this study clearly indicate that the major function of LH3 in osteoblasts is to glucosylate galactosylhydroxylysine residues in type I collagen and that an impairment of this LH3 function significantly affects type I collagen fibrillogenesis.Collagens are a large family of extracellular matrix proteins comprising at least 29 different genetic types (1, 2). Among those types, fibrillar type I collagen is the most abundant protein, and it is the major structural component in most connective tissues, including bone. One of the critical steps in collagen biosynthesis, which contributes to the functional integrity of the tissues, is the post-translational modifications, including the hydroxylation of specific proline (Pro) and lysine (Lys) residues, glycosylation of specific hydroxylysine (Hyl) 2 residues, and the formation of covalent intermolecular cross-links. Although several functions have been proposed for collagen glycosylation, such as control of collagen fibrillogenesis (3-7), cross-linking (8 -14), remodeling (15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22), and collagen-cell interaction (23, 24), the function is still not well defined due in part to the lack of clear understanding in the mechanism of this modification.In fibrillar collagens, glycosylation occurs at specific Hyl residues by hydroxylysine galactosyltransferase (GT) (EC 2.4.1.50) and galactosylhydroxylysine-glucosyltransferase (GGT) (EC 2.4.1.66) resulting in the formation of galactosylhydroxylysine (G-Hyl) and glucosylgalactosylhydroxylysine (GGHyl), respectively. Recently, these enzymatic activities were found in the multi...

The differentiation of embryonic or determined stem cell populations into adult liver fates under known conditions yields cells with some adult-specific genes but not others, aberrant regulation of one or more genes, and variations in the results from experiment to experiment. We tested the hypothesis that sets of signals produced by freshly isolated, lineage-dependent mesenchymal cell populations would yield greater efficiency and reproducibility in driving the differentiation of human hepatic stem cells (hHpSCs) into adult liver fates. The subpopulations of liver-derived mesenchymal cells, purified by immunoselection technologies, included (1) angioblasts, (2) mature endothelia, (3) hepatic stellate cell precursors, (4) mature stellate cells (pericytes), and (5) myofibroblasts. Freshly immunoselected cells of each of these subpopulations were established in primary cultures under wholly defined (serum-free) conditions that we developed for short-term cultures and were used as feeders with hHpSCs. Feeders of angioblasts yielded self-replication, stellate cell precursors caused lineage restriction to hepatoblasts, mature endothelia produced differentiation into hepatocytes, and mature stellate cells and/or myofibroblasts resulted in differentiation into cholangiocytes. Paracrine signals produced by the different feeders were identified by biochemical, immunohistochemical, and quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction analyses, and then those signals were used to replace the feeders in monolayer and threedimensional cultures to elicit the desired biological responses from hHpSCs. The defined paracrine signals were proved to be able to yield reproducible responses from hHpSCs and to permit differentiation into fully mature and functional parenchymal cells. Conclusion: Paracrine signals from defined mesenchymal cell populations are important for the regulation of stem cell populations into specific adult fates; this finding is important for basic and clinical research as well as industrial investigations. (HEPATOLOGY 2010;52:1443-1454 H uman hepatic stem cells (hHpSCs) are uniquely positioned at the foundation of potential liver regeneration therapies because they are the only parenchymal cell subpopulation identified with both the capacity for self-renewal and the capacity to generate numerous progenitors, such as

Decorin (DCN) is one of the major matrix proteoglycans in bone. To investigate the role of DCN in matrix mineralization, the expression of DCN in MC3T3-E1 (MC) cell cultures and the phenotypes of MC-derived clones expressing higher (sense; S-DCN) or lower (antisense; AS-DCN) levels of DCN were characterized. DCN expression was significantly decreased as the mineralized nodules were formed and expanded in vitro. In S-DCN clones, in vitro matrix mineralization was inhibited, whereas in AS-DCN clones, mineralization was accelerated. At the microscopic level, collagen fibers in S-DCN clones were thinner while those of AS-DCN clones were thicker and lacked directionality compared to the controls. At the ultrastructural level, the collagen fibrils in S-DCN clones were markedly thinner, whereas those of AS-DCN clones were larger and irregular in shape. The results from Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis demonstrated that in AS-DCN cultures the mineral content was greater but the crystallinity of mineral was poorer than that of the controls at early stage of mineralization. The in vivo transplantation assay demonstrated that no mineralized matrices were formed in S-DCN transplants, whereas they were readily detected in AS-DCN transplants at 3 weeks of transplantation. The areas of bone-like matrices in AS-DCN transplants were significantly greater than the controls at 3 weeks but became comparable at 5 weeks. The bonelike matrices in AS-DCN transplants exhibited woven bone-like non-lamellar structure while the lamellar bone-like structure was evident in the control transplants. These results suggest that DCN regulates matrix mineralization by modulating collagen assembly.