The fibrillar collagens, collagen VIII, collagen X and the C1q complement proteins share a similar domain in their C‐terminal non‐collagenous regions

Abstract
A sequence comparison of the C‐termini of collagens X, VIII, the collagen‐like complement factor C1q, and the fibrillar collagens showed a conserved cluster of aromatic residues. This conserved cluster was in a domain of approximately 130 amino acids that exhibited marked similarities in hydrophilicity profiles between the different collagens, despite a low level of sequence similarity. These data suggest that the ‘collagen X‐like family’ and the fibrillar collagens contain a domain within their C‐termini that adopts a common tertiary structure, and that a conserved cluster of aromatic residues in this domain may be involved in C‐terminal trimerization.