Figure 3

Alignment of MLPH proteins from different species. The MLPH protein sequences were translated from nucleotide database accessions [EMBL:AJ920333] (dog), [Genbank:AK022207] (human), [Genbank:AF384098] (mouse), and [Genbank:BC081894] (rat), respectively. The three major predicted protein domains of MLPH are indicated in accordance with [24]. Note the 13 additional amino acids in the dog MLPH protein encoded by dog exon 5, which is not conserved in other species. Another big difference between the sequences is caused by the fact that dog is lacking a homologous exon to human exon 9. In human this exon is not used constitutively and for the alignment a protein isoform without the amino acids encoded by this alternative exon was used. Polymorphisms that affect the amino acid sequence of the dog MLPH protein are indicated with arrows. None of the observed protein polymorphisms has a segregation pattern in the investigated families that would be compatible with a causative mutation for dilute.