Identification and expression of the motilin precursor in the guinea pig

Motilin has never been isolated from rodents, the most frequently used labo ratory animals, despite several attempts, We have isolated and sequenced th e motilin precursor from duodenal mucosa of guinea pig (GenBank accession n umber AF323752) and studied its expression in several tissues, The percent homology with human motilin is the lowest yet observed due to several uniqu e substitutions in the C-terminal end, As expected, the precursor was prese nt in the gut mucosa with the exception of the gastric corpus, It was also present in medulla oblongata, nucleus of the solitary tract, hypophysis, sp inal cord, hypothalamus, and cerebellum but not in the cerebral cortex, For the first time ne demonstrated motilin expression in the thyroid. (C) 2001 Federation of European Biochemical Societies. Published by Elsevier Scienc e B.V. All rights reserved.