ISOLATION AND STRUCTURAL CHARACTERIZATION OF A NOVEL PEPTIDE RELATED TO GAMMA-MELANOCYTE STIMULATING HORMONE FROM THE BRAIN OF THE LEECH THEROMYZON TESSULATUM

This paper reports the purification of a novel pro-opiomelanocortin de rivative peptide (a gamma-melanocyte stimulating hormone-like (gamma-M SH-like) molecule) from the brain of the leech Theromyzon tessulatum. After reverse-phase HPLC purification, the sequence of the gamma-MSH-l ike peptide (YVMGHFRWDKFamide) was established by a combination of aut omated Edman degradation, electrospray mass spectrometry measurement, enzymatic treatment and co-elution experiments in reverse-phase HPLC w ith synthetic peptides.