Kellett E, Perry S J, Santama N, Worster B M, Benjamin P R, Burke J F
Sussex Centre for Neuroscience, School of Biological Sciences, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton, United Kingdom.
J Neurosci. 1996 Aug 15;16(16):4949-57. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.16-16-04949.1996.
The myomodulin family of neuropeptides is an important group of neural cotransmitters in molluscs and is known to be present in the neural network that controls feeding behavior in the snail Lymnaea. Here we show that a single gene encodes five structurally similar forms of myomodulin: GLQMLRLamide, QIPMLRLamide, SMSMLRLamide, SLSMLRLamide, and PMSMLRLamide, the latter being present in nine copies. Analysis of the organization of the gene indicates that it is transcribed as a single spliced transcript from an upstream promoter region that contains multiple cAMP-responsive elements, as well as putative elements with homology to tissue-specific promoter-binding sites. The presence in nervous tissue of two of the peptides, GLQMLRLamide and PMSMLRLamide, is confirmed by mass spectrometry. In situ hybridization analysis indicates that the gene is expressed in specific cells in all ganglia of the CNS of Lymnaea, which will allow physiological analysis of the function of myomodulins at the level of single identified neurons.
神经肽的肌动蛋白调节素家族是软体动物中一类重要的神经共递质，已知存在于控制椎实螺进食行为的神经网络中。在此我们表明，单个基因编码五种结构相似的肌动蛋白调节素形式：GLQMLRLamide、QIPMLRLamide、SMSMLRLamide、SLSMLRLamide和PMSMLRLamide，其中后者有九个拷贝。对该基因结构的分析表明，它从上游启动子区域转录为单个剪接转录本，该区域包含多个cAMP反应元件以及与组织特异性启动子结合位点具有同源性的假定元件。通过质谱法证实了两种肽GLQMLRLamide和PMSMLRLamide在神经组织中的存在。原位杂交分析表明，该基因在椎实螺中枢神经系统所有神经节的特定细胞中表达，这将有助于在单个已鉴定神经元水平上对肌动蛋白调节素的功能进行生理学分析。
