The leech excitatory peptide, a member of the GGNG peptide family: isolation and comparison with the earthworm GGNG peptides.
A member of the GGNG peptide family was isolated from Hirudo nipponia (leech). GGNG peptides had only been isolated previously from earthworms. The C-terminus structure of the leech peptide, LEP (leech excitatory peptide), was -Gly-Gly-Asn-amide, while that of the earthworm peptides, EEP (earthworm excitatory peptide), was -Gly-Gly-Asn-Gly. LEP exerted 1000-fold more potent activities on leech gut than did EEP-2. On the other hand, EEP-2 was 1000-fold more potent than LEP on the crop-gizzard of the earthworm. Analog peptides of LEP and EEP-2 were synthesized, and the myoactive potency of each analog on the leech and earthworm tissues was compared.
Minakata
H
H
Suntory Institute for Bioorganic Research, Osaka, Japan. 090481@308.mail.suntory.co.jp
Fujita
T
T
Kawano
T
T
Nagahama
T
T
Oumi
T
T
Ukena
K
K
Matsushima
O
O
Muneoka
Y
Y
Nomoto
K
K
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D007865:Leeches / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000502:physiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009119:Muscle Contraction; D009835:Oligochaeta / Q000737:chemistry; D010456:Peptides, Cyclic / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000502:physiology; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship
D010456:Peptides, Cyclic; C107510:leech excitatory peptide, Hirudo nipponia