Substitutions of aspartic acid for glycine-220 and of arginine for glycine-664 in the triple helix of the pro alpha 1(I) chain of type I procollagen produce lethal osteogenesis imperfecta and disrupt the ability of collagen fibrils to incorporate crystalline hydroxyapatite.
We identified two infants with lethal (type II) osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) who were heterozygous for mutations in the COL1A1 gene that resulted in substitutions of aspartic acid for glycine at position 220 and arginine for glycine at position 664 in the product of one COL1A1 allele in each individual. In normal age- and site-matched bone, approximately 70% (by number) of the collagen fibrils were encrusted with plate-like crystallites of hydroxyapatite. In contrast, approximately 5% (by number) of the collagen fibrils in the probands' bone contained crystallites. In contrast with normal bone, the c-axes of hydroxyapatite crystallites were sometimes poorly aligned with the long axis of fibrils obtained from OI bone. Chemical analysis showed that the OI samples contained normal amounts of calcium. The probands' bone samples contained type I collagen, overmodified type I collagen and elevated levels of type III and V collagens. On the basis of biochemical and morphological data, the fibrils in the OI samples were co-polymers of normal and mutant collagen. The results are consistent with a model of fibril mineralization in which the presence of abnormal type I collagen prevents normal collagen in the same fibril from incorporating hydroxyapatite crystallites.