Molecular Biophysics of the Extracellular Matrix

Biopolymers, such as proteins and nucleic acids have been subjected to a rational succession of structural studies in which the determination of chemical compositions, link- ages, and sequences is followed by investigations of molecu- lar architecture and interactions. By the end of the 1960s the covalent structures of glycosaminoglycans and proteo- glycans had been defined both within the carbohydrate chains and in respect to their linkages to protein. The scene was therefore set for succe...