Major urinary proteins heterogeneity

Payne, C. E., Malone, N., Humphries, R. E., Bradbrook, C., Veggerby, C., Beynon, R. J. and Hurst, J. L. (2001). Heterogeneity of major urinary proteins in house mice population and sex differences. In A. Marchelewska-Koj, D. Muller-Schwarze and J. Lepri (Eds.), Chemical Signals in Vertebrates 9, Plenum Press, New York, pp. 233-240. 

Beynon, R. G., Veggerby, C., Payne, C. E., etal. (2002). Polymorphism in major urinary proteins molecular heterogeneity in a wild mouse population, journal of Chemical Ecology 28 1429-1446. 

Beynon, R.J., Robertson, D., Hubbard, S.J., Gaskell, S.J., and Hurst, J. 199. The major urinary proteins of the mouse Molecular heterogeneity and function. This volume. 

The major urinary proteins (MUPs) are secreted abundantly into mouse urine as a normal condition. MUPs are thought to be involved in olfactory communication as their distinctive barrel shape allows them to bind two semiochemical molecules. Production of MUPs results from simultaneous expression of a number of closely related MUP genes the mature proteins therefore have heterogeneous amino acid sequences. Whilst this heterogeneity has been characterised in inbred mice, little is known about the heterogeneity of MUPs in wild mice. No function has ever been ascribed to MUP heterogeneity. 

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