title: Identification of a D-alanine-containing polypeptide precursor for the peptide opioid, dermorphin.
abstract: The naturally occurring amphibian skin peptides dermorphin (Tyr-D-Ala-Phe-Gly-Tyr-Pro-Ser-NH2) and dermenkephalin (Tyr-D-Met-Phe-His-Leu-Met-Asp-NH2) are highly potent and selective agonists at the mu- and the delta-opioid receptors, respectively. For peptides synthesized by animal cells, they have a rather peculiar structural feature of containing a D-amino acid residue in their sequence which imparts biological activity on them. The cloned cDNA encoding the prodermorphin precursor contains the usual alanine and methionine codons at positions where D-alanine and D-methionine are present in the mature products. In this study, dermorphin precursor was characterized in extracts from amphibian skin by antisera recognizing distinct epitopes within the predicted structure of pro-dermorphin. Proteolytic digestion of purified endogenous pro-dermorphin generated a peptide containing a D-alanine in position 2, identified as prepro-dermorphin-(80-89), i.e. Tyr-D-Ala-Phe-Gly-Tyr-Pro-Ser-Gly-Glu-Ala. In addition, analysis of skin extracts by enzyme immunoassays coupled to high performance liquid chromatography separations revealed the presence of, besides dermenkephalin, novel dermenkephalin-related peptides, i.e. [L-Met2]dermenkephalin, dermenkephalin-OH, and [Met(O)6]dermenkephalin. [L-Met2]dermenkephalin was present in frog skin in a concentration of about 100 times that of dermenkephalin. These observations confirm that, despite the presence of D-amino acid residues, dermorphin and dermenkephalin are genuine products of post-translational processing of a ribosomally made precursor. They suggest that D-Ala and D-Met develop from a dehydrogenation/hydrogenation stereoinversion of their corresponding L isomers incorporated into pro-dermorphin, a process that occurs with low efficiency at an early stage of biosynthesis.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Bioactivation des Peptides, Institut Jacques Monod, Université Paris, France.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mor
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Delfour
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Nicolas
mesh_terms: D000409:Alanine / Q000235:genetics*; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000663:Amphibians; D000818:Animals; D043424:Carboxypeptidase B; D002268:Carboxypeptidases; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D003429:Cross Reactions; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009842:Oligopeptides / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D018847:Opioid Peptides; D011498:Protein Precursors / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D011499:Protein Processing, Post-Translational; D014357:Trypsin
chemical_list: D009842:Oligopeptides; D018847:Opioid Peptides; D011498:Protein Precursors; C059567:deltorphin; C030058:dermorphin; D002268:Carboxypeptidases; D043424:Carboxypeptidase B; D014357:Trypsin; D000409:Alanine