Fig. 1

Alignment of the rat Mptx amino acid sequence with the mouse and human Mptx sequence, with rat, mouse and human C-reactive protein (CRP) and serum amyloid P component (SAP) and with frog jeltraxin (Fjtx). Symbols are as follows: black highlighting was used when more than 6 out of 10 aligned amino acids are identical, grey highlighting was used likewise for conservative amino acid substitutions. The (putative) cleavage site of the signal peptide is underlined in each sequence. Arrows mark conserved cysteine residues. Double underlined amino acids indicate the pentraxin consensus sequence. Dots indicate the residues known to coordinate calcium ions in human CRP and SAP. The star indicates a stop codon