Collagens at a glance

Abstract

Collagens are a still growing family of proteins with an extraordinary heterogeneity: Today, 27 collagen types are known which are encoded by over 40 different genes. The diversity not only concerns the molecular assembly and the supramolecular structures but is also mirrored by tissue distribution, function and pathology of the collagen types. To become familiar with the collagen superfamily and to obtain a quick overview, we compiled Table 1 covering the "essentials" of the individual collagens. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005.