This sequence alignment would be typical of the type of data to be submitted with a request for addition of a "new" PDE to the PDE database. In this case it compares the "conserved catalytic domain" of HSPDE7A, (defined here as an approximately 250 amino acid starting 25-30 amino acids N-terminal to the conserved HNHxxH motif) to the closest sequence currently in the database. In this case the PDE4B2A is compared using the University of Wisconsin GCG software. The output can be pasted directly into a text file that will work well on most email systems.

 of: HSPDE7A.Pep  from: 201  to: 450

      LOCUS       HUMCAMPHOS   3979 bp ss-mRNA     PRI  03-AUG-1993
      DEFINITION  Human cAMP phosphodiesterase mRNA
      ACCESSION   L12052

 to: HSPDE4B2A.Pep       from: 1  to: 565

 Symbol comparison table: Gencoredisk:[Gcgcore.Data.Rundata]Swgappep.Cmp
 CompCheck: 1254

         Gap Weight:  3.000      Average Match:  0.540
      Length Weight:  0.100   Average Mismatch: -0.396

            Quality:  196.2             Length:    256
              Ratio:  0.791               Gaps:      2
 Percent Similarity: 63.306   Percent Identity: 39.113

 HSPDE7A.Pep x HS4B2A.Pep          December 15, 1994 11:25  ..

                  .         .         .         .         .
     203 FHLDMMKLRRFLVMIQEDYHSQNPYHNAVHAADVTQAMHCYLKEPKLANS 252
         |::.  .:  ::: :::.|||: :|||.:|||||.|. |..|..| |..
     209 FRISSDTFITYMMTLEDHYHSDVAYHNSLHAADVAQSTHVLLSTPALDAV 258
                  .         .         .         .         .
     253 VTPWDILLSLIAAATHDLDHPGVNQPFLIKTNHYLATLYKNTSVLENHHW 302
         .|.::|| .::|||.||:|||||...|||.||  || :|.:.|||||||:
     259 FTDLEILAAIFAAAIHDVDHPGVSNQFLINTNSELALMYNDESVLENHHL 308
                  .         .         .         .         .
     303 RSAVGLLRE..SGLFSHLPLESRQQMETQIGALILATDISRQNEYLSLFR 350
           :. ||.|  :::| :|. . || : . : .::||||:|:: ..|. ::
     309 AVGFKLLQEEHCDIFMNLTKKQRQTLRKMVIDMVLATDMSKHMSLLADLK 358
                  .         .         .         .         .
     351 SHLD......RGDLCLEDTRHRHLVLQMALKCADICNPCRTWELSKQWSE 394
         . ::      .| | |::  .|  ||.  :.|||::||.:.:|| :||.:
     359 TMVETKKVTSSGVLLLDNYTDRIQVLRNMVHCADLSNPTKSLELYRQWTD 408
                  .         .         .         .         .
     395 KVTEEFFHQGDIEKKYHLGVSPLCDRHTESIANIQIGFMTYLVEPLFTEW 444
         :: ||||:||| |:.  :::||:||:||.|:.. |:||:.|:|.||:..|
     409 RIMEEFFQQGDKERERGMEISPMCDKHTASVEKSQVGFIDYIVHPLWETW 458

     445 ARFSNT 450
         | : ..
     459 ADLVQP 464

Since the identity in the most conserved region is only 39%, it is clear from the comparison that this cDNA should encode a PDE belonging to a different PDE family from the PDE4s. When supported by expression data it is clear that it encodes a catalytically active PDE.