title: Identification of whey acidic protein (WAP) in dog milk.
abstract: Whey acidic protein (WAP) has been identified as a major whey protein in milk of a wide range of species and reportedly plays important roles in regulating the proliferation of mammary epithelial cells. However, in some species including humans, WAP is not synthesized in the mammary gland. The presence of WAP in carnivore species has not been reported. We searched the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) database for the dog WAP gene and tried biochemically to identify WAP in dog milk. The nucleotide sequence of the examined dog genomic DNA was completely identical to that in the NCBI database and showed that the dog WAP gene, like other known functional WAP genes, has four exons. Biochemical analysis of milk protein by reverse-phase HPLC and Western blotting demonstrated the presence of WAP in dog milk.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Applied Genetics, The University of Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Mami
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Seki
authors.forename: Rina
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Matsura
authors.forename: Tokuko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Iwamori
authors.forename: Naoko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nukumi
authors.forename: Keitaro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yamanouchi
authors.forename: Kiyoshi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kano
authors.forename: Kunihiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Naito
authors.forename: Hideaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tojo
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D015153:Blotting, Western / Q000662:veterinary; D019295:Computational Biology; D004285:Dogs / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D008892:Milk / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D008894:Milk Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000662:veterinary; D016415:Sequence Alignment / Q000662:veterinary
chemical_list: D008894:Milk Proteins; C024471:whey acidic proteins