CLONING OF A NEUROPEPTIDE Y PEPTIDE YY RECEPTOR FROM THE ATLANTIC COD- THE YB RECEPTOR/

Neuropeptide Y (NPY) belongs to a family of structurally related neuro endocrine peptides that bind to G protein-coupled receptors. Five diff erent receptor subtypes have recently been cloned in mammals and we ha ve found another three receptor genes in the zebrafish, called zYa, zY b, and zYc, that appear to be distinct subtypes as deduced from their widely different sequences. To elucidate the evolutionary relationship s between the mammalian and zebrafish receptors, we have used the zebr afish probes to isolate genomic clones from another teleost fish, the Atlantic cod, Gadus morhua. We present here the sequence of the cod Yb gene, whose deduced protein sequence is equally identical to the zebr afish rt, (69%) and Yc proteins (66%). The two zebrafish receptors are 76% identical to each other, suggesting that they arose by gene dupli cation in the zebrafish lineage after divergence from the cod lineage. The five cloned mammalian NPY-family receptors and the three cloned z ebrafish NPY receptors indicate that this is the largest receptor fami ly among all peptide receptors that belong to the superfamily of G pro tein-coupled receptors. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights rese rved.