Isolation and partial sequencing of a novel myotropin from the brain of the desert locust Schistocerca gregaria forsk

A neuropeptide that stimulates the motility of the cockroach hindgut has be en isolated from an extract of 7000 brain - corpus cardiacum - corpora alla ta - suboesophageal ganglion complexes of the desert locust Schistocerca gr egaria. During HPLC purification, the myotropic activity of column fraction s was monitored on the isolated hindgut of Leucophaea maderae. Due to the l ow amount of material, this myotropic peptide - designated as schistomyosti mulin or Scg-MST - could only be partially sequenced: DSRW?GPK(?). Scg-MST shows no relevant sequence similarities with other peptides from vertebrate or invertebrate sources. It is the fifteenth myotropic peptide chromatogra phically isolated from S. gregaria.