| abstract |
Polypeptides comprising a collectin neck region, or variant or derivative thereof or amino acid sequence having the same or a similar amino acid pattern and/or hydrophobicity profile, are able to trimerize. Such polypeptides may comprise additional amino acids which may include heterologous amino acids, for example, forming a protein domain or derived from an immunoglobulin or comprising an amino acid which may be derivatized for attachment of a non-peptide moiety such as oligosaccharide, and may form homotrimers or heterotrimers. Heterotrimerization may be promoted by gentle heating, e.g. to about 50° C., then cooling to room temperature. One use for the polypeptides is in seeding collagen formation. Nucleic acid encoding the polypeptides and methods of their production are provided. |