Fig. 1. Conservation of key functional amino acids. When the various Spry proteins are aligned by the CLUSTAL program there are a number of sequences and single residues that are 100% conserved. The SpryTD and the Y55 conserved sequences are highlighted in green and orange, respectively. The triangle above the line denotes the conserved basic residue deemed necessary for binding to PtdIns(4,5)P₂. Other than these regions that have been assigned crucial functions in Spry action there are several other isolated regions that are similarly conserved (depicted in blue or purple). Notably several of these are serine residues, which raises the question whether serine phosphorylation is important for Spry function.

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