Preparation of an 125I-labeled red pigment-concentrating hormone analog

Binding proteins for a peptide hormone in the shrimp, Sicyonia ingentis: evidence from photoaffinity labeling with red pigment concentrating hormone analogs

Two photoaffinity analogs of the crustacean erythrophore (red pigment) concentrating hormone (RPCH) have been synthesized and shown to cause pigment concentration in the shrimp Sicyonia ingentis. These two modified oligopeptides have azidosalicylamide groups which allow introduction of an 125I label and enable photochemically induced covalent attachment to a specific binding site. Incubation of [125I]-ASA-Glu1-CC-2 with the 100,000g membrane pellet and cytosol fraction from epidermis, eyestalks, muscle, and central nervous system (CNS), followed by irradiation, sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, and autoradiography results in covalent modification of certain protein bands in the membranes of selected tissues. Two such proteins were observed in neural tissues and showed competitive displacement by excess RPCH, indicative of specific high-affinity binding. This is the first report of peptide hormone-binding proteins in an invertebrate and provides further evidence of a role for RPCH as a neurotransmitter in the CNS.

Invertebrate neuropeptide hormones

The development of a long-term research program on the neurosecretory hormones of arthropods is described. The purification and full characterization of the first invertebrate neurohormones, the red pigment-concentrating hormone (RPCH) and the distal retinal pigment hormone (DRPH) demonstrated that they are peptides, an octapeptide and an octadecapeptide, respectively. Physiological function studies with the pure hormones and their synthetic preparations showed that the RPCH acts as a general pigment-concentrating hormone (PCH), and that the DRPH, in addition to its light-adaptive function, also constitutes a general pigment-dispersing hormone (PDH). In the regulation of the color-adaptation of the animals, the two hormones act as antagonists. The chromatophorotropic activities are widely distributed within the arthropod neuroendocrine systems. Purification of the pigment-concentrating activities from the locust corpora cardiaca lead to the isolation and characterization of the first insect neurohormones, the adipokinetic hormones (AKH I and AKH II). These two hormones, AKH I being a decapeptide and AKH II being an octapeptide, are close structural analogs to the crustacean PCH, demonstrating a common evolution of arthropod neurohormones. The hormones of this PCH-family all cross-react, but structure-function studies of the hormones show that quite different parts of their structure are involved in their binding to the various receptors.