Journal of Neuroscience, Vol 11, 740-745, Copyright © 1991 by Society for Neuroscience
Neuropeptides Gly-Asp-Pro-Phe-Leu-Arg-Phe-amide (GDPFLRFamide) and Ser- Asp-Pro-Phe-Leu-Arg-Phe-amide (SDPFLRFamide) are encoded by an exon 3' to Phe-Met-Arg-Phe-NH2 (FMRFamide) in the snail Lymnaea stagnalis
SE Saunders, K Bright, E Kellett, PR Benjamin and JF Burke
Neuroscience Interdisciplinary Research Centre, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton, United Kingdom.
Biochemical analysis has shown the pond snail Lymnaea stagnalis to contain
2 main classes of Phe-Met-Arg-Phe-NH2 (FMRFamide)-like neuropeptides: the
tetrapeptides FMRFamide and Phe-Leu-Arg-Phe-NH2 (FLRFamide), and the
heptapeptides Gly-Asp-Pro-Phe-Leu-Arg-Phe-NH2 (GDP- FLRFamide) and
Ser-Asp-Pro-Phe-Leu-Arg-Phe-NH2 (SDPFFRFamide). By genomic mapping and DNA
sequencing, we show here that the GDP/SDPFLRFamide coding region lies 3' to
the FMRFamide coding region. The absence of an initiating start methionine
and the presence of good- concensus 3' and 5' splice sites suggests that
the GDP/SDPFLRFamide coding region makes up 1 exon of a larger gene. In
addition to 7 copies of GDPFLRFamide and 6 copies of SDPFLRFamide, the exon
encoding the heptapeptides also encodes 3 novel peptides,
Glu-Phe-Phe-Pro-Leu-NH2 (EFFPLamide), Ser-Asp-Pro-Tyr-Leu-Phe-Arg-NH2
(SDPYLFRamide), and Ser- Asp-Pro-Phe-Phe-Arg-Phe-NH2 (SDPFFRFamide). In
contrast to the tetrapeptide FMRFamide precursor protein, the
GDP/SDPFLRFamide peptides are encoded contiguously, being separated only by
single basic amino acids.
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