D-Amino acid residue in the C-type natriuretic peptide from the venom of the mammal, Ornithorhynchus anatinus, the Australian platypus.
The C-type natriuretic peptide from the platypus venom (OvCNP) exists in two forms, OvCNPa and OvCNPb, whose amino acid sequences are identical. Through the use of nuclear magnetic resonance, mass spectrometry, and peptidase digestion studies, we discovered that OvCNPb incorporates a D-amino acid at position 2 in the primary structure. Peptides containing a D-amino acid have been found in lower forms of organism, but this report is the first for a D-amino acid in a biologically active peptide from a mammal. The result implies the existence of a specific isomerase in the platypus that converts an L-amino acid residue in the protein to the D-configuration.
School of Molecular and Microbial Biosciences, University of Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Allan M
AM
Torres
Ian
I
Menz
Paul F
PF
Alewood
Paramjit
P
Bansal
Jelle
J
Lahnstein
Clifford H
CH
Gallagher
Philip W
PW
Kuchel
D000596:Amino Acids / Q000032:analysis*; D000818:Animals; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D020098:Natriuretic Peptide, C-Type / Q000737:chemistry*; D019906:Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Biomolecular; D010987:Platypus; D014688:Venoms / Q000737:chemistry*
D000596:Amino Acids; D014688:Venoms; D020098:Natriuretic Peptide, C-Type