Comparison of the cDNA and amino acid sequences of lipoprotein lipase in eight species.

By aligning nucleotide and amino acid sequences of lipoprotein lipase in eight species (man, pig, cow, sheep, mouse, rat, guinea-pig and chicken), we found that the main domains (catalytic, N-glycosylation and putative heparin binding sites) are well conserved. The longest identical amino acid chain was encoded by a sequence between the end of exon 2 and the beginning of exon 3, emphasizing the importance of this region which encodes the beta 5-loop of the active site, among other domains. Exon 10 is entirely untranslated in the seven mammals studied here and contains species-characteristic deletions, insertions or elements rich in A or A + T. In chicken, the beginning of exon 10 is translated. These eight previously unreported alignments could be a useful tool for further studies on LPL function.