The extracellular matrix of a tissue is as important to life as the cells within it. Its detailed molecular structure defines the environment of a tissue's cells and thus their properties, including differentiation and metabolic status. Collagen proteins are the major component of extracellular matrices. Self-assembled collagen fibrils provide both specific mechanical properties to handle external stresses on tissues and, at the molecular level, well-defined protein binding sites to interact with cells. How the cell-matrix interactions are maintained against the stresses on the tissue is an important and as yet unanswered question. Similarly, how collagen molecular and fibrillar structures change in aging and disease is a crucial open question. Solid-state NMR spectroscopy offers insight into collagen molecular conformation in intact in vivo and in vitro tissues, and in this Account we review how NMR spectroscopy is beginning to provide answers to these questions. In vivo C,N labeling of the extracellular matrix has given insight into collagen molecular dynamics and generated multidimensional NMR "fingerprints" of collagen molecular structure that allow comparison of local collagen conformation between tissues. NMR studies have shown that charged collagen residues (Lys, Arg) adopt extended-side-chain conformations in the fibrillar structure to facilitate charge-charge interactions between neighboring collagen molecules, while hydrophobic residues (Leu, Ile) fold along the collagen molecular axis to minimize the hydrophobic area exposed to surrounding water. Detailed NMR and molecular modeling work has shown that the abundant Gly-Pro-Hyp (Hyp = hydroxyproline) triplets in collagen triple helices confer well-defined flexibility because the proline is conformationally metastable, in contrast to the expectation that these triplets confer structural rigidity. The alignment of the Gly-Pro-Hyp triplets within the fibril structure means that the Gly-Pro-Hyp molecular flexibility generates fibril flexibility. The fibrillar bands of Gly-Pro-Hyp are highly correlated with collagen ligand binding sites, leading to the hypothesis that the fibril alignment of Gly-Pro-Hyp triplets is essential to protect collagen-ligand binding against external stresses on the tissue. Non-enzymatic chemistry between collagen side-chain amine groups (Lys, Arg) and reducing sugars-glycation-is an important source of matrix structural change in aging and disease. Glycation leads to stiffening of collagen fibrils, which is widely speculated to be the result of intermolecular cross-linking. The chemistry of non-enzymatic glycation has been extensively detailed through NMR studies and has been shown to lead to side-chain modifications as the majority reaction products, rather than intermolecular cross-links, with resultant molecular misalignment in the fibrils. Thus, a picture is beginning to emerge in which collagen glycation causes stiffening through misalignment of collagen molecular flexible regions rather than intermolecular cross-linking, meani...

Self-assembled materials can be designed to express useful optoelectronic properties; however, achieving structural control is a necessary precondition for the optimization of desired properties. Here we report a simple, metal-templated polymerization process that generates helical metallopolymer strands over 75 repeat units long (28 kDa) from a single bifunctional monomer and Cu . The resulting polymer consists of a double helix of two identical conjugated organic strands enclosing a central column of metal ions. The length of this metallopolymer can be controlled by adding monofunctional subcomponents to end-cap the conjugated ligands. The use of ditopic and bulky monotopic subcomponents, respectively, allows a head-to-head or head-to-tail double helix to be generated. Spectroscopic measurements of different polymer lengths demonstrate how control over polymer length leads to control over the electronic and luminescent properties of the resulting material, thereby enabling tunable white-light emission.

Collagen fibrils are central to the molecular organization of the extracellular matrix (ECM) and to defining the cellular microenvironment. Glycation of collagen fibrils is known to impact on cell adhesion and migration in the context of cancer and in model studies, glycation of collagen molecules has been shown to affect the binding of other ECM components to collagen. Here we use TEM to show that ribose-5-phosphate (R5P) glycation of collagen fibrils-potentially important in the microenvironment of actively dividing cells, such as cancer cells-disrupts the longitudinal ordering of the molecules in collagen fibrils and, using KFM and FLiM, that R5P-glycated collagen fibrils have a more negative surface charge than unglycated fibrils. Altered molecular arrangement can be expected to impact on the accessibility of cell adhesion sites and altered fibril surface charge on the integrity of the extracellular matrix structure surrounding glycated collagen fibrils. Both effects are highly relevant for cell adhesion and migration within the tumour microenvironment. Collagen fibrils are central to the molecular organization of the extracellular matrix (ECM) and thus to defining the cellular microenvironment 1,2. Cells bind to specific GXOGER sequences on collagen fibrils via non-covalent interactions with transmembrane integrin receptors for both adhesion and migration purposes 3-10 , signal transduction via integrin-collagen binding being relevant for cell growth and differentiation 11. The extent of integrin binding to collagen-and thus the strength of signalling-is dependent on the degree of exposure of the relevant GXOGER molecular sequences on the collagen fibril surface, which in turn depends on the arrangement of collagen molecules within the fibrils. Non-covalent interactions between specific amino acid sequences in collagen molecules and other extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins also direct the organisation of molecules around collagen fibrils and so are crucial in both the initial self-assembly of the ECM and in maintaining its structural integrity. Thus, the physicochemical and structural state of collagen fibrils is highly relevant to cell growth and mobility and to the overall spatial organization of the extracellular matrix networks. Collagen fibrils are subject to non-enzymatic glycation reactions because they are relatively accessible to exogenous sugars and other aldehydes. Glycation is a spontaneous non-enzymatic reaction between carbonyl groups of reducing sugars and amine groups of proteins, lipids or nucleic acids, occurring in all living systems 12,13. The glycation reactions between collagen and sugars are highly complex, with many possible sugar-adduct intermediate products and further reactions steps to form so-called advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs), the latter of which includes intermolecular crosslinks 14,15. The glycation reaction begins with Schiff base formation at lysine sidechain amines and then Amadori rearrangement to a variety of sugar adducts of Lys through a range of facile intra...

Summary Biomineralization of the extracellular matrix is an essential, regulated process. Inappropriate mineralization of bone and the vasculature has devastating effects on patient health, yet an integrated understanding of the chemical and cell biological processes that lead to mineral nucleation remains elusive. Here, we report that biomineralization of bone and the vasculature is associated with extracellular poly(ADP-ribose) synthesized by poly(ADP-ribose) polymerases in response to oxidative and/or DNA damage. We use ultrastructural methods to show poly(ADP-ribose) can form both calcified spherical particles, reminiscent of those found in vascular calcification, and biomimetically calcified collagen fibrils similar to bone. Importantly, inhibition of poly(ADP-ribose) biosynthesis in vitro and in vivo inhibits biomineralization, suggesting a therapeutic route for the treatment of vascular calcifications. We conclude that poly(ADP-ribose) plays a central chemical role in both pathological and physiological extracellular matrix calcification.

Calcium oxalate minerals of the general formula CaC 2 O 4 . x H 2 O are widely present in nature and usually associated with pathological calcifications, constituting up to 70–80% of the mineral component of renal calculi. The monohydrate phase (CaC 2 O 4 . H 2 O, COM) is the most stable form, accounting for the majority of the hydrated calcium oxalates found. These mineral phases have been studied extensively via X-ray diffraction and IR spectroscopy and, to a lesser extent, using 1 H, 13 C, and 43 Ca solid-state NMR spectroscopy. However, several aspects of their structure and reactivity are still unclear, such as the evolution from low- to high-temperature COM structures (LT-COM and HT-COM, respectively) and the involvement of water molecules in this phase transition. Here, we report for the first time a 17 O and 2 H solid-state NMR investigation of the local structure and dynamics of water in the COM phase. A new procedure for the selective 17 O- and 2 H-isotopic enrichment of water molecules within the COM mineral is presented using mechanochemistry, which employs only microliter quantities of enriched water and leads to exchange yields up to ∼30%. 17 O NMR allows both crystallographically inequivalent water molecules in the LT-COM structure to be resolved, while 2 H NMR studies provide unambiguous evidence that these water molecules are undergoing different types of motions at high temperatures without exchanging with one another. Dynamics appear to be essential for water molecules in these structures, which have not been accounted for in previous structural studies on the HT-COM structure due to lack of available tools, highlighting the importance of such NMR investigations for refining the overall knowledge on biologically relevant minerals like calcium oxalates.