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Deduced amino acid sequence from the bovine oxytocin–neurophysin I precursor cDNA

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Abstract

The nonapeptide hormone oxytocin-like arginine-vasopressin (AVP)1–4 is synthesized as part of a larger precursor polypeptide. The precursor also includes the neurophysin molecule with which the hormone is associated in the neurosecretory granules of the hypothalamo-pituitary tract. A protein of molecular weight (Mr)∼20,000 has been isolated from supraoptic nuclei of rat hypothalami which, after tryptic cleavage, released a neurophysin-like molecule of Mr∼10,000 and an oligopeptide related to oxytocin5. This result was complemented by in vitro translation of bovine hypothalamic mRNA6–8. Among the primary translation products a single polypeptide of Mr∼16,500 was shown to contain antigenic determinants recognized by specific antisera against bovine neurophysin I and oxytocin. Here we report the amino acid sequence of the bovine oxytocin–neurophysin I (OT-NpI) precursor which was derived from sequence analysis of the cloned cDNA. As is the case for the bovine arginine-vasopressin–neurophysin II (AVP-NpII) precursor4, the signal sequence of the OT-NpI precursor is immediately followed by the nonapeptide hormone which is connected to neurophysin I by a Gly-Lys-Arg sequence. A striking feature of the nucleic acid sequence is the 197-nucleotide long perfect homology with the AVP-NpII precursor mRNA sequence encoding the conserved middle part of neurophysins I and II.

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Author notes

  1. H. Land

    Present address: MIT Center for Cancer Research, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138, USA

  2. M. Grez

    Present address: Department of Microbiology, University of Southern California, School of Medicine, 2025 Zonal Avenue, Los Angeles, California, 90033, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Cell and Tumor Biology, German Cancer Research Center, Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, D-6900, Heidelberg, FRG

    H. Land, M. Grez, S. Ruppert & G. Schütz

  2. Institut für Physiologische Chemie, Abteilung Zellbiochemie, Universität Hamburg, UKE, 2000, Hamburg, 20, FRG

    H. Schmale, M. Rehbein & D. Richter

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  1. H. Land
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  2. M. Grez
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  3. S. Ruppert
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  4. H. Schmale
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  5. M. Rehbein
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  6. D. Richter
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  7. G. Schütz
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Land, H., Grez, M., Ruppert, S. et al. Deduced amino acid sequence from the bovine oxytocin–neurophysin I precursor cDNA. Nature 302, 342–344 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1038/302342a0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/302342a0

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