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Structure, Function, and Expression of Drosophila melanogaster FMRFamide‐related Peptides
Author(s) -
NICHOLS R.,
McCORMICK J. B.,
LIM I. A.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1999.tb07897.x
Subject(s) - fmrfamide , drosophila melanogaster , biology , neuropeptide , tetrapeptide , nervous system , microbiology and biotechnology , drosophila (subgenus) , drosophilidae , aplysia , melanogaster , neuroscience , biochemistry , peptide , gene , receptor
A bstract : In 1977, Price and Greenberg 1 identified the tetrapeptide FMRFamide as a cardioexcitatory molecule from mollusc. Subsequent to this discovery, FMRFamide‐related peptides (FaRPs) have been identified in both invertebrates and vertebrates. 2, 3 Peptides in the FaRP family contain a common RFamide C‐terminus and act as modulators and messengers of neural and gastrointestinal functions. 2, 3 Like other organisms, Drosophila melanogaster contains several genes 4–6 that encode for numerous FaRPs. 7, 8 Elucidating the processing and activities of multiple FaRPs encoded in a single precursor is critical to establishing their roles in physiology. In this manuscript, we describe the distribution of FMRFamide immunoreactive materials in the Drosophila central nervous system and gut, and correlate it with the expression of specific FaRPs and their activities. The unique distributions 9–13 and biological activities 14, 15 of Drosophila FaRPs suggest that the precursors are highly processed and the structurally related peptides are not functionally redundant. The complete distribution of FaRPs in the central nervous system and gut as detected by FMRFamide antisera is not accounted for by the sum of the individual expression patterns of the known Drosophila peptides. Thus, these data suggest that one or more Drosophila FaRPs or structurally related peptides remain to be discovered.