PH PROFILE OF A PEPTIDE RECEPTOR

1. 1. The activation of the feeding response in Hydra littoralis was used as a model system to investigate the mechanism by which a specific peptide activates its complementary cellular receptor to give a co-ordinated biological response. 2. 2. Through use of a modified Lineweaver-Burk equation and a modified Dixon equation, it was possible to determine the dissociation constant between the receptor and glutathione and ionic groups on or near the receptor site. 3. 3. From the results of these and previous experiments, it is proposed that on combination with reduced glutathione the tertiary (or quarternary) structure of the receptor is reversibly converted from an inactive form. © 1969.