title: Isolation and structural determination of seminal vesicle-specific peptides of the terrestrial isopod, Armadillidium vulgare.
abstract: During the course of purifying the androgenic gland hormone of the terrestrial isopod, Armadillidium vulgare, that induces post-embryonic sex differentiation, four structurally related peptides were obtained and their structures determined by a combination of microsequence and mass spectral analyses. These peptides were found to exist speciffically in the seminal vesicle and vas deferens by a Western blot analysis, therefore being designated as seminal vesicle-specific peptides (SVSPs). They had essentially the same amino acid sequences but differed from one another in the truncation of several residues at the N-terminus and of one residue at the C-terminus, and in the modification of glutamine to pyroglutamate at the N-terminus. The longest peptides, SVSP-4, consisted of 60 amino acid residues with two intramolecular disulfide bridges. There is no significant homology with any other vertebrate or invertebrate peptides.
authors.affiliation: Ocean Research Institute, University of Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nagasawa
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hasegawa
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Haino-Fukushima
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hatayama
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yanagisawa
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Katakura
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000906:Antibodies / Q000302:isolation & purification; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D002918:Chymotrypsin / Q000737:chemistry; D003445:Crustacea / Q000378:metabolism*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D006868:Hydrolysis; D007447:Invertebrate Hormones / Q000737:chemistry; D008297:Male; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010455:Peptides / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D012669:Seminal Vesicles / Q000737:chemistry*; D012697:Serine Endopeptidases / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D000906:Antibodies; D007447:Invertebrate Hormones; D010455:Peptides; D012697:Serine Endopeptidases; D002918:Chymotrypsin; C036813:lysyl endopeptidase