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Enkephalin Genes

  • Chapter
Molecular Cloning of Hormone Genes

Part of the book series: Molecular Biology and Biophysics ((MBB))

Abstract

The effects of opiate drugs on the brain in the perception of pain and pleasure have been known for a long time. The presence of an opiate receptor in the brain was realized in 1973 when it was demonstrated that opiate drugs bound stereospecifically and with high affinity at specific sites (1–3). This finding immediately prompted a search for the endogenous ligand(s) for these receptors because it did not seem reasonable that laboratory animals, through evolution, should have developed a receptor structure for a plant alkaloid such as morphine. The search for these endogenous ligands culminated in 1975 with the finding of two opioid peptides, termed methionine enkephalin (Met-enkephalin) and leucine enkephalin (Leu-enkephalin) (4). These pentapeptides were shown to have the following structures:

$$\begin{array}{*{20}{c}} {{\text{N}}{{{\text{H}}}_{2}}{\text{ - Tyr - Gly - Gly - Phe - Met - COOH:}} {\text{Met - enkephalin}}} \\ {{\text{N}}{{{\text{H}}}_{2}}{\text{ - Tyr - Gly - Gly - Phe - Leu - COOH:}} {\text{Leu - enkephalin}}} \\ \end{array}$$

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Authors
  1. Ueli Gubler
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Molecular Endocrinology and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Joel F. Habener

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© 1987 The Humana Press Inc.

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Gubler, U. (1987). Enkephalin Genes. In: Habener, J.F. (eds) Molecular Cloning of Hormone Genes. Molecular Biology and Biophysics. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-4824-8_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-4824-8_10

  • Publisher Name: Humana Press

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-9178-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4612-4824-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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