Expression and Functional Characterization of aDrosophilaNeuropeptide Precursor with Homology to Mammalian Preprotachykinin A*

Autor: Siviter, Richard J., Coast, Geoffrey M., Winther, Åsa M.E., Nachman, Ronald J., Taylor, Christine A.M., Shirras, Alan D., Coates, David, Isaac, R. Elwyn, Nässel, Dick R.
Zdroj: Journal of Biological Chemistry; July 2000, Vol. 275 Issue: 30 p23273-23280, 8p
Abstrakt: Peptides structurally related to mammalian tachykinins have recently been isolated from the brain and intestine of several insect species, where they are believed to function as both neuromodulators and hormones. Further evidence for the signaling role of insect tachykinin-related peptides was provided by the cloning and characterization of cDNAs for two tachykinin receptors fromDrosophila melanogaster. However, no endogenous ligand has been isolated for the Drosophilatachykinin receptors to date. Analysis of the Drosophilagenome allowed us to identify a putative tachykinin-related peptide prohormone (prepro-DTK) gene. A 1.5-kilobase pair cDNA amplified from aDrosophilahead cDNA library contained an 870-base pair open reading frame, which encodes five novel Drosophilatachykinin-related peptides (called DTK peptides) with conserved C-terminal FXGXR-amide motifs common to other insect tachykinin-related peptides. The tachykinin-related peptide prohormone gene (Dtk) is both expressed and post-translationally processed in larval and adult midgut endocrine cells and in the central nervous system, with midgut expression starting at stage 17 of embryogenesis. The predictedDrosophilatachykinin peptides have potent stimulatory effects on the contractions of insect gut. These data provide additional evidence for the conservation of both the structure and function of the tachykinin peptides in the brain and gut during the course of evolution.
Databáze: Supplemental Index