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Possible Structural Similarity between Insulin and Glucagon

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Abstract

INSULIN and glucagon are pancreatic protein hormones which produce opposing physiological effects, the former lowering and the latter raising the concentration of sugar in the blood. With the elucidation of the complete amino-acid sequences of insulin1 and glucagon2 it became possible to compare the two structures in the hope of finding some correlation or complementary features in their sequences. Heretofore such comparisons have not revealed striking similarities or parallels between the two primary structures. Indeed, there are only four dipeptides which the two proteins have in common. This communication points out a similarity between the two primary sequences which are seen in Fig. 1.

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SCHUSTER, T. Possible Structural Similarity between Insulin and Glucagon. Nature 209, 302–303 (1966). https://doi.org/10.1038/209302a0

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