Plays a role during the calcification of cartilage and the transition of cartilage to bone. Found on some small banded collagen fibrils and meshworks. Detected at E67 in the primary ossification center and is tightly restricted to the pericellular region of the hypertrophic chondrocytes and lacunae at the very center of the future diaphysis. At fetal 20-week highly abundant in the hypertrophic zone at the chondroosseous junction. Weakly detected around cells in the resting and proliferative zone of the cartilaginous plate, but the intense detection occurred deep in the hypertrophic zone near the newly formed bone. Detected throughout the extracellular matrix (ECM) in this zone it is also closely situated around hypertrophic chondrocytes. The C-terminal propeptide, also known as COLFI domain, have crucial roles in tissue growth and repair by controlling both the intracellular assembly of procollagen molecules and the extracellular assembly of collagen fibrils. It binds a calcium ion which is essential for its function (By similarity). The disease is caused by variants affecting the gene represented in this entry. Belongs to the fibrillar collagen family. Truncated N-terminus.