title: Prodynorphin in invertebrates.
abstract: We have characterized a prodynorphin-like molecule in an invertebrate, specifically in the rhynchobdellid leech Theromyzon tessulatum. The 14270 Da protein was purified by gel permeation chromatography, anti-leucine-enkephalin-affinity column separation followed by reverse-phase HPLC. Its complete characterization was performed by Edman degradation, enzymatic treatments, and matrix assisted laser-desorption time of flight mass spectrometry. This 119 amino-acid protein exhibits 28.8% sequence identity with rat prodynorphin, 22.9% with human prodynorphin, and 21.8% with the pig molecule. Within the leech precursor, alpha-Neo-endorphin, dynorphin-A, and dynorphin B-like peptides are present at the C-terminus as in vertebrate prodynorphin. These biological active peptides exhibit 100%, 50%, and 76.6% sequence identity with their counterparts in mammals, respectively. The amount of leucine-enkephalin is identical to that found in vertebrates. Leech prodynorphin is distinguished from that found in mammals in that the N-terminus is shorter. This report constitutes the first complete biochemical characterization of a prodynorphin in invertebrates.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Phylogénie Moléculaire des Annélides EA DRED 1027, Université des Sciences et Technologies de Lille, France. salzet@pop.univ-lille1.fr
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Salzet
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Stefano
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D004745:Enkephalins / Q000032:analysis*; D007865:Leeches / Q000737:chemistry*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011498:Protein Precursors / Q000032:analysis*; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D004745:Enkephalins; D011498:Protein Precursors; C033660:preproenkephalin