ISOLATION AND STRUCTURE OF THE DROSOPHILA CORAZONIN GENE

A recombinant DNA clone containing the corazonin gene was isolated fro m a genomic library of Drosophila melanogaster. Its nucleotide sequenc e predicts a preprocorazonin consisting of an 19 amino acid putative s ignal peptide, the 11 amino acid corazonin sequence, a Gly used for am idation, a Lys-Arg proteolytic processing site, and a 39 amino acid co razonin-precursor-related peptide (CPRP). CPRP has an internal Arg-Arg sequence and thus could possibly be further processed into a tripepti de and a 34-mer. Neither CPRP or its possible products are structurall y related to any known neuropeptide, and their physiological function is unknown. The structure of the predicted preprocorazonin is remarkab ly similar to the preprohormone of adipokinetic hormone, which suggest s that corazonin and adipokinetic hormone have a common evolutionary o rigin. (C) 1994 Academic Press, Inc.