CLONING AND SEQUENCE-ANALYSIS OF HYPOTHALAMIC CDNA-ENCODING XENOPUS PREPRONEUROPEPTIDE-Y

Neuropeptide Y (NPY) consists of 36 amino acids and it constitutes one of the most conserved neuropeptides. Here we report the complete sequence of the first amphibian NPY precursor by cloning of a hypothalamic cDNA encoding Xenopus laevis preproNPY. The overall amino acid sequence identity between Xenopus and other known NPY precursor proteins ranges from 59% (fish) to 82% (chicken); a low degree of identity was found for the signal peptide sequence (32-75%) and for the carboxy-terminal peptide of NPY (CPON; 43-73%), while the NPY peptide sequence itself constitutes the most highly-conserved region (89-100%) within the preproNPY structure. © 1993 Academic Press, Inc.