PURIFICATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF INSULIN, GLUCAGON, AND 2 GLUCAGON-LIKE PEPTIDES WITH INSULIN-RELEASING ACTIVITY FROM THE PANCREAS OF THE TOAD, BUFO-MARINUS
Jm. Conlon et al., PURIFICATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF INSULIN, GLUCAGON, AND 2 GLUCAGON-LIKE PEPTIDES WITH INSULIN-RELEASING ACTIVITY FROM THE PANCREAS OF THE TOAD, BUFO-MARINUS, Endocrinology, 139(8), 1998, pp. 3442-3448
Insulin and four peptides derived from the posttranslational processin
g of proglucagon have been isolated in pure form from the pancreas of
the cane toad, Bufo marinus. Although Bufo insulin contains 9 amino ac
id substitutions, compared with human insulin, all those residues that
are considered to be involved in receptor-binding and in dimer and he
xamer formation have been conserved. Bufo insulin was, however, more p
otent (4-fold) than human insulin in inhibiting the binding of [I-125-
Tyr-A14] insulin to the soluble full-length recombinant human insulin
receptor, which is probably a consequence of the substitution (Thr -->
Kis) at position A-8. Bufo glucagon was isolated in two molecular for
ms: glucagon-29 shows only one amino acid substitution (Thr29 --> Ser)
, compared with human glucagon; and glucagon-36 comprises glucagon-29,
extended from its C-terminus by Lys-Arg-Ser-Gly-Gly-Met-Ser. The huma
n proglucagon gene contains one copy of glucagon-like peptide (GLP)-1,
a potent insulin secretogogue, and one copy of GLP-2 that is devoid o
f insulin-releasing activity. In contrast, two proglucagon-derived pep
tides with 32- and 37-amino acid residues (GLP-32 and GLP-37), display
ing greater structural similarity to human GLP-1 than to GLP-2, were i
solated from Bufo pancreas. Both peptides produced concentration-depen
dent increases in insulin release from glucose-responsive rat insulino
ma-derived BRIN-BD11 cells. The threshold concentrations producing a s
ignificant (P < 0.001) effect were 10(-8) M (GLP-32) and 10(-9) M (GLP
-37), and the maximum increase in the rate of insulin release produced
by 10(-6) M concentrations of both peptides was approximately 5-fold.