The following slides may help people understand the RhD polypeptide and the way it “interacts with

itself”.

IT IS MOST IMPORTANT THAT EVERYONE UNDERSTANDS THAT THIS WORK IS NOT ORIGINAL, BUT IS A COMBINATION OF WORK
DONE BY SUCH LUMINARIES ARE GEOFF DANIELS, MARION REID, CHRISTINE LOMAS-FRANCIS, WILLY FLEGEL AND OTHERS
OF THAT ILK.

ALL I HAVE DONE IS CREATE THESE CARTOONS AS COPIES OF THEIR WORK.

 The RhD Polypeptide.
• The D polypeptide consists of 417 amino acid residues (but the
first methionine is probably cleaved from the mature polypeptide).

• MSSKYPRSVR RCLPLWALTL EAALILLFYF FTHYDASLED

QKGLVASYQV GQDLTVMAAI GLGFLTSSFR RHSWSSVAFN
LFMLALGVQW AILLDGFLSQ FPSGKVVITL FSIRLATMSA
LSVLIVDGAV LGKVNLAQLV VMVLVEVTAL GNLRMVISNI
FNTDYHMNMM HIYVFAAYFG LSVAWCLPKP
LPEGTEDNDQ TATIPSLSAM LGALFLWIFW PSFNSALLRS
PIERKNAVFN TYYAVAVSVV TAISGSSLAH PQGKISKTYV
HSAVLAGGVA VGTSCHLIPS PWLAMVLGLV AGLISVGGAK
YLPGCCNRVL GIPHSSIMGY NFSLLGLLGE IIYIVLLVLD
TVGAGNGMIG FQVLLSIGEL SLAIVIALTS GLLTGLLLNL
KIWKAPHKAK YFDDQVFWKF PHLAVGF
 The RhD Polypeptide
(from the side).

This methionine may not be present in the mature polypeptide.

 The RhD Polypeptide
(from the side). Exon
Boundary
162
49 112

358
E1 E2 E3 E4 E5 E6 E7

E8

212
398

E9

(2) 267 E10

Cytosol NH2
313
409
(417)
COOH
The RhD Polypeptide (from the top).

11 10
6

8 5
12 9
4
4 3
7 3
2
Intra-cellular 5
6
Extra-cellular
2 1
1