Mw. Miller et al., THE MYOMODULIN-RELATED NEUROPEPTIDES - CHARACTERIZATION OF A GENE ENCODING A FAMILY OF PEPTIDE COTRANSMITTERS IN APLYSIA, The Journal of neuroscience, 13(8), 1993, pp. 3358-3367
The myomodulin-related peptides comprise a family of cotransmitters th
at modulate neuromuscular signaling in the feeding system of Aplysia.
In this study, cDNA clones encoding a myomodulin precursor polypeptide
were isolated and characterized. This precursor contains seven differ
ent myomodulin-related peptides, one of which, myomodulin A, is presen
t in 10 contiguous copies. The sequence of a myomodulin genomic clone
indicates that all of these myomodulin-related peptides are encoded on
a single exon. The myomodulin gene is expressed in a tissue-specific
manner and myomodulin mRNA is localized to specific neurons in the Apl
ysia CNS. The presence of multiple related neuropeptides can greatly i
ncrease the range and precision of signaling at synapses where they ac
t as modulator cotransmitters.