2. Academic Validation
  3. The gastrin-releasing peptide/bombesin system revisited by a reverse-evolutionary study considering Xenopus

The gastrin-releasing peptide/bombesin system revisited by a reverse-evolutionary study considering Xenopus

  • Sci Rep. 2021 Jun 25;11(1):13315. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-92528-x.
Asuka Hirooka # 1,  Mayuko Hamada # 1 2,  Daiki Fujiyama 1,  Keiko Takanami 1 3,  Yasuhisa Kobayashi 1 4,  Takumi Oti 1 5,  Yukitoshi Katayama 1,  Tatsuya Sakamoto 1,  Hirotaka Sakamoto 6 7
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Ushimado Marine Institute (UMI), Graduate School of Natural Science and Technology, Okayama University, Ushimado, Setouchi, Okayama, 701-4303, Japan.
  • 2 Zoological Institute, Christian-Albrechts University Kiel, Am Botanischen Garten 1-9, 24118, Kiel, Germany.
  • 3 Mouse Genomics Resources Laboratory, National Institute of Genetics, Yata, Mishima, Shizuoka, 411-8540, Japan.
  • 4 Laboratory for Aquatic Biology, Department of Fisheries, Faculty of Agriculture, Kindai University, Nakamachi, Nara, 631-8505, Japan.
  • 5 Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, Kanagawa University, Hiratsuka, Kanagawa, 259-1293, Japan.
  • 6 Ushimado Marine Institute (UMI), Graduate School of Natural Science and Technology, Okayama University, Ushimado, Setouchi, Okayama, 701-4303, Japan. [email protected].
  • 7 Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PT, UK. [email protected].
  • # Contributed equally.
PMID: 34172791 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-92528-x
Abstract

Bombesin is a putative Antibacterial peptide isolated from the skin of the frog, Bombina bombina. Two related (bombesin-like) Peptides, gastrin-releasing peptide (GRP) and neuromedin B (NMB) have been found in mammals. The history of GRP/bombesin discovery has caused little attention to be paid to the evolutionary relationship of GRP/bombesin and their receptors in vertebrates. We have classified the Peptides and their receptors from the phylogenetic viewpoint using a newly established genetic database and bioinformatics. Here we show, by using a clawed frog (Xenopus tropicalis), that GRP is not a mammalian counterpart of bombesin and also that, whereas the GRP system is widely conserved among vertebrates, the NMB/bombesin system has diversified in certain lineages, in particular in frog species. To understand the derivation of GRP system in the ancestor of mammals, we have focused on the GRP system in Xenopus. Gene expression analyses combined with immunohistochemistry and Western blotting experiments demonstrated that GRP Peptides and their receptors are distributed in the brain and stomach of Xenopus. We conclude that GRP Peptides and their receptors have evolved from ancestral (GRP-like peptide) homologues to play multiple roles in both the gut and the brain as one of the 'gut-brain peptide' systems.

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