Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

I'm using BLAST to compare the changes in hemagglutinin protein sequences of some flu viruses, thus, I notice which regions in the sequences are constant and which ones are changeable with time.

I don't know why the results appear in ' MKAILVV ... ' but nothing such as ' Met - Leu - Gly - ... ' .

I'm forward to hearing from you soon.

Hello there,

"MKAILVV" are basically just single letters that represent individual amino acids. It's a different way of showing an amino acid sequence compared to "Met-Leu-Gly". Here is a website that lists all the single-letter and three-letter abbreviations for different amino acids: http://www.bio.davidson.edu/biology/aatable.html. So in this case, "MKAILVV" in the three-letter abbreviation form would be "Met-Lys-Ala-Ile-Leu-Val-Val", and "Met-Leu-Gly" in the single-letter form will be "MLG".

Hope this helps! Let us know if you have anymore questions.

Connie