Unlike fibrillar collagens, which form long fibers.
These domains vary in length and composition and provide flexibility and additional binding sites for other components of the extracellular matrix.
[5] FACIT collagen is found in various tissue areas to modulate the surface properties of collagen fibrils and generate tissue-specific three-dimensional patterns in the extracellular matrix.
In addition, collagen XIV association with a propeptide suggests FACIT function can extend to providing binding sites for fibril-modifying extracellular enzymes.
[3] There are also collagens that are expressed in the basement membrane zones, which are extracellular matrices composed of macromolecule networks,[5] and collagen XXII is one example located in the myotendinous junctions in the skeletal and heart muscles.