Structural and functional characterization of neuropeptides involved in the control of male mating behavior of Lymnaea stagnalis.

Mating as a male in the simultaneous hermaphrodite freshwater snail, Lymnaea stagnalis, comprises a series of complex behaviors that are a prelude to copulation. Copulatory behavior itself is assumed to be controlled by various types of peptidergic neurons as well as serotonergic cells. Here we report the primary structure of two peptides that were extracted from a cluster of neurons that innervates the penial complex and that is located in the anterior lobe of the right cerebral ganglion. The sequences of the peptides were determined as: Ala-Pro-Gly-Trp-amide and Ser-Gly-Ser-Asp-Tyr-Cys-Glu-Thr-Leu-Lys-Glu-Val-Ala-Asp-Glu-Tyr-Ile-Leu- Leu- Ser-Tyr-Lys-Ile-Glu-Glu-Gln-Arg-Ala-Ala-Asp-Cys-Gly-Gly-Glu-Pro-Pro-Asn- Ser- Gln(amide), respectively. The longer peptide is a homodimer. Both peptides are processed from the recently identified Ala-Pro-Gly-Trp-amide prohormone, which is expressed in the neurons of the anterior lobe of the right cerebral ganglion. Ala-Pro-Gly-Trp-amide could also be recovered from the penial complex. This peptide, when applied in vitro, inhibits the contractions of the penis retractor muscles evoked by serotonin in a dose-dependent fashion.