Figure 5. Conservation of NH₂-terminus of Cx50. Evolutionary conservation of the NH₂-terminal portion of Cx50 indicates that leucine in position 7 is invariably (100%) conserved across vertebrates (identity/similarity shading using the BLOSUM62 matrix). The sequences are as follows: Dca – sequence from the microphthalmic rat (SHR-Dca/Dca); wt_rat (Rattus norvegicus) – NP_703195.1; mouse (Mus musculus) – NP_032149.1; hum (human, Homo sapiens) – NP_005258.2; gal (chicken, Gallus gallus) – NP_990328.1; and danio (zebrafish, Danio rerio) – XP_685033.1.