Mw. Miller et al., THE BUCCALIN-RELATED NEUROPEPTIDES - ISOLATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF AN APLYSIA CDNA CLONE ENCODING A FAMILY OF PEPTIDE COTRANSMITTERS, The Journal of neuroscience, 13(8), 1993, pp. 3346-3357
The buccalin-related peptides, buccalin A and buccalin B, are members
of a family of cotransmitters that modulate neuromuscular transmission
in Aplysia. In this study, a third buccalin-related peptide, buccalin
C, was purified from neuronal elements in the accessory radula closer
, a muscle involved in the animal's feeding behavior. Oligonucleotide
probes based upon the amino acid sequence of buccalin C were used to i
solate cDNA clones that encode a buccalin precursor polypeptide. The b
uccalin precursor contains 19 distinct buccalin-related peptides, seve
ral of which are present in multiple copies. The buccalin gene appears
to be present in a single copy, with one allele containing a small in
sert. Expression of this gene occurs in a tissue-specific manner and m
RNA transcripts are abundant within neurons in the Aplysia CNS. This l
arge family of neuropeptides may exert extraordinarily complex modulat
ory actions at synapses where they serve as cotransmitters.