Structure
Neuromedin U is a highly conserved neuropeptide present in many species, existing as multiple isoforms. For example, in humans it is a 25 amino acid peptide (U-25) in rats it is 23-aas long (U-23) and it has been found to be as low as 8-aas long in some mammals. NMU-8 is identical to the C terminus of NMU-25, thus is the most highly conserved region of the entire peptide. The relative contribution of the different isoforms to the biological function of neuromedin U is generally not well understood. Neuromedin U, like many neuroactive peptides, is amidated at the C-terminus, and all isoforms have identical C-terminal heptapeptides.
The sequence of neuromedin U-23 in rats is: YKVNEYNGPVAPSGGFFLFRPRN-(NH2).
Read more about this topic: Neuromedin U
Famous quotes containing the word structure:
“When a house is tottering to its fall,
The strain lies heaviest on the weakest part,
One tiny crack throughout the structure spreads,
And its own weight soon brings it toppling down.”
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
“What is the most rigorous law of our being? Growth. No smallest atom of our moral, mental, or physical structure can stand still a year. It grows—it must grow; nothing can prevent it.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“A committee is organic rather than mechanical in its nature: it is not a structure but a plant. It takes root and grows, it flowers, wilts, and dies, scattering the seed from which other committees will bloom in their turn.”
—C. Northcote Parkinson (1909–1993)