title: The prokineticins: a novel pair of regulatory peptides.
abstract: Secreted peptides play broad regulatory roles in brain function and elsewhere in the body. Prokineticins are a pair of newly identified regulatory peptides that signal through two highly homologous G protein-coupled receptors. Prokineticins possess a unique structural motif of five disulfide bonds and a completely conserved N-terminal hexapeptide sequence that is essential to biological activity. Diverse biological functions, including roles in development and cell differentiation, have been assigned to the prokineticins. A network of genes, subject to various transcriptional factors, may functionally converge on the prokineticins as regulatory targets.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, University of California, Irvine, California 92697, USA. qzhou@uci.edu
authors.forename: Qun-Yong
authors.initials: QY
authors.lastname: Zhou
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002940:Circadian Rhythm / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009119:Muscle Contraction; D009130:Muscle, Smooth / Q000502:physiology; D010455:Peptides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction; D042662:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor, Endocrine-Gland-Derived / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D010455:Peptides; D042662:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor, Endocrine-Gland-Derived