Cloning, sequence analysis and tissue distribution of the mouse and rat urotensin II precursors

Urotensin II (UII) is a cyclic neuropeptide initially isolated from the cau dal neurosecretory system of teleost fish., The recent cloning of the UII p recursor in frog and human has demonstrated that the peptide is not restric ted to the fish urophysis but that it is also expressed in the central nerv ous system of tetrapods. Here, me describe the characterization of the cDNA s encoding prepro-UII in mouse and rat. A comparison of the primary structu res of mouse and rat UII with those of other vertebrate UII reveals that th e sequence of the cyclic region of the molecule (CFWKYC) has been fully con served, In contrast, the N-terminal flanking domain of prepro-UII has marke dly diverged with only 48% sequence identity between the mouse or rat and t he human precursors. In situ hybridization histochemistry showed that the p repro-UII gene is predominantly expressed in motoneurons of the brainstem a nd spinal cord, suggesting that UII may play a role in the control of neuro muscular functions. (C) 1999 Federation of European Biochemical Societies.