Rabbit zona pellucida composition: A molecular, proteomic and phylogenetic approach

In rabbit, it was previously described that the ZP was composed of three different glycoproteins. In this study the expression of ZP1 is probed by molecular and proteomic approaches. The data presented in this work provide evidence, for the first time, that the rabbit ZP matrix is composed of four glycoproteins. Moreover, a phylogenetic study of ZP1 reveals that pseudogenization of this gene (ZP1) happened at least four times during the evolution of mammals.54