May have a role in bone formation and also in establishing the ordered structure of cartilage through matrix organization. Preferentially expressed in the zone of flattened chondrocytes of the developing limb cartilage. Embryo. A long and a short form present in approximately equimolar amounts may arise by proteolysis or cleavage by exopeptidases. The O-linked polysaccharides on Thr-60 and Ser-95 are probably the mucin type linked to GalNAc. There is one glycosaminoglycan chain, known to be dermatan sulfate, and it is probably the O-glycosylation at Ser-64. Belongs to the small leucine-rich proteoglycan (SLRP) family. SLRP class III subfamily.