Identification of urocortin III, an additional member of the corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) family with high affinity for the CRF2 receptor.

ABSTRACT: The corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) family of neuropeptides includes the mammalian peptides CRF, urocortin, and urocortin II, as well as piscine urotensin I and frog sauvagine. The mammalian peptides signal through two G protein-coupled receptor types to modulate endocrine, autonomic, and behavioral responses to stress, as well as a range of peripheral (cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, and immune) activities. The three previously known ligands are differentially distributed anatomically and have distinct specificities for the two major receptor types. Here we describe the characterization of an additional CRF-related peptide, urocortin III, in the human and mouse. In searching the public human genome databases we found a partial expressed sequence tagged (EST) clone with significant

SUBMITTER: Lewis K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC34709 | biostudies-literature | 2001 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature