| First Author | Matus-Ortega ME | Year | 2017 |
| Journal | FEBS Lett | Volume | 591 |
| Issue | 12 | Pages | 1627-1636 |
| PubMed ID | 28504339 | Mgi Jnum | J:243579 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:5909158 | Doi | 10.1002/1873-3468.12679 |
| Citation | Matus-Ortega ME, et al. (2017) Mexneurin is a novel precursor of peptides in the central nervous system of rodents. FEBS Lett 591(12):1627-1636 |
| abstractText | Endomorphins (EMs) have been proposed as the endogenous ligand agonists of the mu-opioid receptor; however, no propeptide precursor protein for EMs has been identified. Here, to identify the presumed precursor of EMs, we designed an immunoscreening assay using specific affinity-purified rabbit antisera raised against synthetic EMs in a whole-mouse brain cDNA library. Following this approach, we identify a DNA sequence encoding a protein precursor, which we name proMexneurin, that contains three different peptide sequences: Mexneurin-1 (an EM-like peptide), Mexneurin-2, and Mexneurin-3, a peptide which appears to be unrelated to EMs. RT-PCR analysis and in situ hybridization reveal a widespread distribution of proMexneurin mRNA throughout the mouse brain. Both Mexneurin-1 and Mexneurin-3 peptides display biological activities in the mouse CNS. |
