DRP2 and vertebrate dystrobrevins. A) Relationship between DRP2, Dp116 and G-utrophin. Alignment of N-terminal DRP2 sequences from a range of animals, together with selected dystrophin Dp116 and G-utrophin sequences. Accession numbers: H. sapiens DRP2, [GenBank:U43519]; Ornithorhyncus anatinus DRP2, [GenBank:BK005803]; G. gallus DRP2, [GenBank:DR425253]; X. tropicalis DRP2, [GenBank:CX826467];D. rerio DRP2, [GenBank:DQ443728]; S. canicula DRP2, [GenBank:U43517]; H. sapiens Dp116, [GenBank:NM_004014]; D. rerio Dp116, [GenBank:DQ788695]; H. sapiens G-utrophin, [GenBank:BP282211]; D. rerio G-utrophin, [GenBank:DQ788696]. Other sequences were predicted from publicly available genome data. Yellow boxes indicate helical regions (PSIPRED) annotated with spectrin repeat (SR) numbers for dystrophin and DRP2[24] where applicable. Exon numbers for dystrophin and DRP2 are given [4, 81]. B) Alignment of alternatively spliced region of selected dystrobrevin sequences. All full-length coding exons (numbering after mouse α-dystrobrevin, Ambrose et al., 1997 [33]) have been included (the status of the 9-bp exon 9 is not known for frog and torpedo α-dystrobrevin; exon 11 is only used in a C-terminally truncated α-dystrobrevin isoform). Exon boundaries only apply to vertebrate genes; the region corresponding to exons 8–14 is encoded by a single exon in the four invertebrates. Yellow boxes indicate syntrophin binding sites [39]. Accession numbers as follows; α-dystrobrevins: H. sapiens, [GenBank:NM_001390]; M. musculus, [GenBank:AF143543]; R. norvegicus, [GenBank:XM_226109]; X. laevis [GenBank:BC046265];D. rerio, [GenBank:DQ516343] and GenBank:DQ516344]; T. californica, [GenBank:L06945]; β-dystrobrevins:H. sapiens, [GenBank:Y15722]; M. musculus, [GenBank:Y15742]; R. norvegicus, [GenBank:BC081889]; D. rerio, [GenBank:DQ516345]; D. rerio γ-dystrobrevin, [GenBank:DQ516346]; D. melanogaster dystrobrevin, [GenBank:AF277387]; C. elegans dystrobrevin, [GenBank:NP_490860]; S. mansoni dystrobrevin, [GenBank:DQ431251]. Other sequences were predicted from publicly available genome and EST data. C) Results of in situ hybridisation of probes complementary to the 3′UTRs of zebrafish dystrophin and γ-dystrobrevin transcripts. Wholemount 24 hpf embryos are shown, anterior to the left. The dystrophin staining of vertical myosepta, comparable to that previously described [32], is similar to that obtained with γ-dystrobrevin.