Bioinformatics analysis of tyrosinase-related protein 1 gene ( TYRP1 ) from different species

Abstract

As one member of the tyrosinase-related family directly involved in the production of melanin, TYRP1 is involved in not only melanogenesis but also prevention of melanocyte death, stabilizing tyrosinase and helping determine the shape of melanosomes, etc. Multi-species sequence comparisons showed that there were two evolutionally conserved non-coding regions (from −1306 to −733 and from −642 to −515 according to AL138753) upstream of translational initiation sites, representing putative regulatory regions subject to subsequent experimental tests. Coding sequence length variation and genetic diversity analysis showed that Felis catus, Homo sapiens and Canis familiaris had more genetic diversities than the other species for TYRP1, especially Felis catus that could be a better choice for studying the TYRP1-associated genetic basis underlying the color diversity. As a 75kDa type-1 transmembrane glycoprotein, mature TYRP1 possesses about 17kDa modifying components, whose function predominantly depends on the existing glycosyl- groups and the Cu components. In addition, the mutated amino acids within species and the highly conserved amino acids among species were listed in our paper.

Key words： melanin; TYRP1; bioinformatics