title: A novel bradykinin-like peptide from skin secretions of rufous-spotted torrent frog, Amolops loloensis.
abstract: A bradykinin-like peptide has been isolated from skin secretions of rufous-spotted torrent frog, Amolops loloensis. This bradykinin-like peptide was named amolopkinin. Its primary structure, RAPVPPGFTPFR, was determined by Edman degradation and mass spectrometry. It is structurally related to bradykinin-like peptides identified from skin secretions of other amphibians. Amolopkinin is composed of 12 amino acid residues and is related to bradykinin composed of nine amino acid residues, identified from the skin secretions of Odorrana schmackeri. Amolopkinin was found to elicit concentration-dependent contractile effects on isolated guinea pig ileum. cDNA clones encoding the precursor of amolopkinin were isolated by screening a skin cDNA library of A. loloensis and then sequenced. The amino acid sequences deduced from the cDNA sequences match well with the results from Edman degradation. Analysis of different amphibian bradykinin cDNA structures revealed that a deficiency of an18-nucleotide fragment (TCAAGAATGATCAGACGC in the cDNA encoding bradykinin from O. schmackeri) in the peptide-coding region resulted in absence of a di-basic site for trypsin-like proteinases and an unusual - APV - insertion in the N-terminal part of amolopkinin. This is the first report of a bradykinin-like peptide comprised of bradykinin with an insertion in its N-terminal part. Our results demonstrate the hypervariability of amphibian bradykinin-like peptides, as well as the diversity of antimicrobial peptides in amphibians.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Microbiological Engineering of Agricultural Environment, Ministry of Agriculture, Life Sciences College of Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210095, China.
authors.forename: Jianguo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.forename: Yaoping
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: Jianxu
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Xueqing
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Huw H
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Rees
authors.forename: Ren
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lai
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D012634:Bodily Secretions / Q000737:chemistry*; D001920:Bradykinin / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000494:pharmacology; D005260:Female; D006168:Guinea Pigs; D007082:Ileum / Q000187:drug effects; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010455:Peptides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D011898:Ranidae / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D012867:Skin / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D010455:Peptides; C519182:amolopkinin protein, Amolops loloensis; D001920:Bradykinin