Abstract
THE gastrointestinal hormones gastrin and cholecystokinin (CCK) are structurally and functionally related in that they have identical COOH-terminal pentapeptide sequences, which represent the biologically active portions of the molecules. The rest of each molecule only modifies its activity quantitatively and determines relative potencies for various targets. This has suggested that the two hormones have evolved from a common ancestral molecule1,2. To test this hypothesis we have investigated the occurrence of gastrin and CCK in different vertebrate species by immunocytochemistry and radioimmunochemistry. We now present evidence that in amphibians and teleosts gastrin and CCK are no longer recognisable as separate hormones.
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LARSSON, LI., REHFELD, J. Evidence for a common evolutionary origin of gastrin and cholecystokinin. Nature 269, 335–338 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1038/269335a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/269335a0
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