Identification of a neuropeptide modified with bromine as an endogenous ligand for GPR7.
We isolated a novel gene in a search of the Celera data base and found that it encoded a peptidic ligand for a G protein-coupled receptor, GPR7 (O'Dowd, B. F., Scheideler, M. A., Nguyen, T., Cheng, R., Rasmussen, J. S., Marchese, A., Zastawny, R., Heng, H. H., Tsui, L. C., Shi, X., Asa, S., Puy, L., and George, S. R. (1995) Genomics 28, 84-91; Lee, D. K., Nguyen, T., Porter, C. A., Cheng, R., George, S. R., and O'Dowd, B. F. (1999) Mol. Brain Res. 71, 96-103). The expression of this gene was detected in various tissues in rats, including the lymphoid organs, central nervous system, mammary glands, and uterus. GPR7 mRNA was mainly detected in the central nervous system and uterus. In situ hybridization showed that the gene encoding the GPR7 ligand was expressed in the hypothalamus and hippocampus of rats. To determine the molecular structure of the endogenous GPR7 ligand, we purified it from bovine hypothalamic tissue extracts on the basis of cAMP production-inhibitory activity to cells expressing GPR7. Through structural analyses, we found that the purified endogenous ligand was a peptide with 29 amino acid residues and that it was uniquely modified with bromine. We subsequently determined that the C-6 position of the indole moiety in the N-terminal Trp was brominated. We believe this is the first report on a neuropeptide modified with bromine and have hence named it neuropeptide B. In in vitro assays, bromination did not influence the binding of neuropeptide B to the receptor.
Fujii
Ryo
R
Discovery Research Laboratories 1, Pharmaceutical Research Division, Takeda Chemical Industries Ltd., 10 Wadai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 300-4293, Japan.
Yoshida
Hiromi
H
Fukusumi
Shoji
S
Habata
Yugo
Y
Hosoya
Masaki
M
Kawamata
Yuji
Y
Yano
Takahiko
T
Hinuma
Shuji
S
Kitada
Chieko
C
Asami
Taiji
T
Mori
Masaaki
M
Fujisawa
Yukio
Y
Fujino
Masahiko
M
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001966:Bromine; D016466:CHO Cells; D002417:Cattle; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D006224:Cricetinae; D000242:Cyclic AMP / Q000096:biosynthesis; D008024:Ligands; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009479:Neuropeptides / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis; D051381:Rats; D043562:Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled; D018013:Receptors, Neuropeptide / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*
D008024:Ligands; D009479:Neuropeptides; C485723:Npbwr1 protein, rat; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D043562:Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled; D018013:Receptors, Neuropeptide; D000242:Cyclic AMP; D001966:Bromine