We established stably transfected insect cell lines containing cDNAs encoding the alpha and beta subunits of human prolyl 4-hydroxylase in both Trichoplusia ni and Drosophila melanogaster S2 cells. The expression level and enzymatic activity of recombinant prolyl 4-hydroxylase produced in the Drosophila expression system were significantly higher than those produced in the T ni system. We further characterized the involvement of prolyl 4-hydroxylase in the assembly of the three alpha chains to form trimeric type XXI minicollagen, which comprises the intact C-terminal non-collagenous (NC1) and collagenous domain (COLI), in the Drosophila system. When minicollagen XXI was stably expressed in Drosophila S2 cells alone, negligible amounts of interchain disulfide-bonded trimers were detected in the culture media. However, minicollagen XXI was secreted as disulfide-bonded homotrimers by coexpression with prolyl 4-hydroxylase in the stably transfected Drosophila S2 cells. Minicollagen XXI coexpressed with prolyl 4-hydroxylase contained sufficient amounts of hydroxyproline to form thermal stable pepsin-resistant triple helices consisting of both interchain and non-interchain disulfide-bonded trimers. These results demonstrate that a sufficient amount of active prolyl 4-hydroxylase is required for the assembly of type XXI collagen triple helices in Drosophila cells and the trimeric assembly is governed by the C-terminal collagenous domain. (c) 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.