Evolution of alpha-lactalbumins. The complete amino acid sequence of the alpha-lactalbumin from a marsupial (Macropus rufogriseus) and corrections to regions of sequence in bovine and goat alpha-lactalbumins.

alpha-Lactalbumin was purified from a whey protein fraction of the milk of the red-necked wallaby (Macropus rufogriseus). The complete amino acid sequence was determined from the results of automatic sequenator analyses of the intact protein, the three cyanogen bromide fragments, and of peptides generated from the larger, COOH-terminal CNBr fragment by digestion with trypsin or staphylococcal protease. This is the first sequence to be determined of an alpha-lactalbumin from a marsupial and differs from known eutherian alpha-lactalbumins in size and locations of deletions in alignments with the homologous type c lysozymes, as well as in having amino acid substitutions at 8 sites that are invariant in known eutherian proteins. Some corrections are also reported for two regions of sequence in both bovine and goat alpha-lactalbumins. The new and previously published information on alpha-lactalbumin sequences is analyzed in relation to the evolutionary history of the alpha-lactalbumin line as well as the relationship of structure to function in these proteins.