Research Paper Volume 6, Issue 10 pp 879—899

The transcriptome of the bowhead whale Balaena mysticetus reveals adaptations of the longest-lived mammal

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Figure 5. Evolution of vertebrate VEGFD protein sequences.

(A) Alignment of vertebrate VEGFD protein sequences. VEGFD residues at the VEGFR-2 receptor-ligand interface are highlighted in yellow, highly conserved cysteine residues that stabilize VEGFD in orange, and a radical amino acid in the bowhead whale, but not in 67 other species, is shown in red. (B) Modeled VEGFD structure. Location of the unique arginine residue in the bowhead whale protein is shown.