Cloning of the cDNA encoding the urotensin II precursor in frog and human reveals intense expression of the urotensin II gene in motoneurons of the spinal cord.

ABSTRACT: Urotensin II (UII) is a cyclic peptide initially isolated from the caudal neurosecretory system of teleost fish. Subsequently, UII has been characterized from a frog brain extract, indicating that a gene encoding a UII precursor is also present in the genome of a tetrapod. Here, we report the characterization of the cDNAs encoding frog and human UII precursors and the localization of the corresponding mRNAs. In both frog and human, the UII sequence is located at the C-terminal position of the precursor. Human UII is composed of only 11 amino acid residues, while fish and frog UII possess 12 and 13 amino acid residues, respectively. The cyclic region of UII, which is responsible for the biological activity of the peptide, has been fully conserved from fish to human. Northern blot and dot bl

SUBMITTER: Coulouarn Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC28125 | biostudies-literature | 1998 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature