Ostrich MSEL-neurophysin belongs to the class of two-domain “big” neurophysin as indicated by complete amino acid sequence of the neurophysin/copeptin

Mammalian neurohypophyseal hormones, oxytocin and vasopressin, are known to be synthesized as part of two larger precursors containing, respectively, a VLDV-neurophysin and a MSEL-neurophysin together with its associated glycopeptide. Starting from ostrich neurohypophyses, a “big” neurophysin was isolated and chemically characterized. Following sequence determination of the CNBr-derived fragments and of peptides obtained from trypsin and V8-protease digestion of the oxidized protein, this “big” neurophysin was found to contain an MSEL-neurophysin moiety (94 residues) still covalently associated with the COOH-terminal glycopeptide (38 residues, copeptin). This study demonstrates that the ostrich MSEL-neurophysin sequence closely resembles all known MSEL-neurophysin sequences and that, furthermore, it does not contain the single amino acid insertion shown previously in the ostrich VLDV-neurophysin. It is also shown that the stretch of amino acids, linking the MSEL-neurophysin and the copeptin, is clearly different from its mammalian homologues and lacks the Arg residue normally recognized by the cleaving enzyme. This study also demonstrates that the ostrich copeptin is more closely related to the amphibian copeptin sequence than to its mammalian homologue, leading to the hypothesis that two families of copeptin molecules might exist. Thus, the ostrich MSEL-neurophysin-copeptin molecule is the first “big” neurophysin reported in birds and, together with the guinea pig and amphibian homologues, represents the third example of partial or no neurophysin-copeptin cleavage.