PREDICTED STRUCTURE OF THE BOVINE CALCITONIN GENE-RELATED PEPTIDE AND THE CARBOXY-TERMINAL FLANKING PEPTIDE OF BOVINE CALCITONIN PRECURSOR

We have isolated from a bovine genomic library a clone which contains the calcitonin (CT) and CT gene-related peptide (CGRP) sequences, using probes representing the human CT and CGRP sequences. Sequence analysis has identified the nucleotide sequence coding for bovine CT, its C-terminal flanking peptide and bovine CGRP. The deduced amino acid sequence of bovine CGRP revealed a significant homology with other CGRPs so far reported. It differs by only one amino acid from rat CGRP-alpha and porcine CGRP, and by three and four amino acids from human CGRP-beta and alpha-respectively. Bovine CT has, however, only 14 out of 32 residues in common with human CT. As in the human CT precursor, the C-terminal flanking peptide of bovine CT precursor is a 21 amino acid peptide. It shares only 11 residues in common with its human counterpart. This study thus provides further evidence that CGRP, in contrast to CT and its C-terminal flanking peptide, is a highly conserved molecule.