In:
Journal of Neurochemistry, Wiley, Vol. 91, No. 1 ( 2004-10), p. 110-118
Abstract:
The human urotensin II (UII) precursor encompasses several potential cleavage sites and thus, processing of pro‐UII may generate various forms of mature UII including the peptides of 11 (UII 11 ), 16 (UII 16 ) and 19 (UII 19 ) residues. Until now, the native form of human UII had not been characterized. Here, we show that the major UII peptide occurring in the human spinal cord corresponds to UII 11 . In contrast, neither the UII 16 nor the UII 19 forms could be detected. In 50% of the brainstem and in all the spinal cord extracts analysed, a second minor UII‐immunoreactive peptide was resolved. Immunohistochemical labelling of the cervical segment of the human spinal cord revealed that the UII‐immunoreactive material was confined to a subset of ventral horn motoneurones. These data provide the first evidence that in the human, the UII precursor, expressed in motoneurones, is processed at the tribasic KKR 93 cleavage site to generate a mature form of UII of 11 amino acids. The absence of N‐terminally elongated forms of UII of 16 and 19 residues indicates that pro‐UII is not cleaved at the R 85 or K 88 monobasic sites. Finally, the minor UII‐immunoreactive peptide detected in several tissue extracts might correspond to an extended form of UII resulting from the processing of the UII precursor at the basic RK 50 or RK 66 doublets.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
0022-3042
,
1471-4159
DOI:
10.1111/jnc.2004.91.issue-1
DOI:
10.1111/j.1471-4159.2004.02698.x
Language:
English
Publisher:
Wiley
Publication Date:
2004
detail.hit.zdb_id:
2020528-4
SSG:
12
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