Collagen evolution of collagens was a fundamental step in the early evolution of life, supporting the coalescence of multicellular life forms. Collagen D-banding is viable as periodic formation of ridging on all fibrils forming collagen. D-bands are created due to the semi-crystalline formation of the collagen within the fibrils. The pattern exhibited by D-banding is consistently independent of fibril diameter. When undergoing deformation, collagen fibrils may lose their D-banding, making the disappearance of the d-bands an indicator of the type of damage undergone by then tendon fibrils. Collagen Collagen is the main structural protein in the extracellular space in the various
Lectin MBL, the mannose-binding lectin, help mediate the first-line defense against invading microorganisms. Other lectins within the immune system are thought to play a role in self-nonself discrimination and they likely modulate inflammatory and autoreactive processes. Intelectins (X-type lectins) were shown to bind microbial glycans and may function in the innate immune system as well. Lectins may be involved in pattern recognition and pathogen elimination in the innate immunity of vertebrates including fishes. The function of lectins in plants (legume lectin) is still uncertain. Once thought to be necessary for rhizobia binding, this proposed function was ruled out through lectin-knockout transgene