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Submitted on July 6, 2004
Accepted on October 29, 2004
Institut National de la Santé et de le Recherche Médicale U376, CHU Arnaud-de-Villeneuve, 371, Rue du Doyen G. Giraud, 34295 Montpellier, Cedex 5, France; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique UMR 5160, Institut de Biologie, Boulevard Henri IV, 34060 Montpellier, Cedex 1, France; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique FRE2621, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, 96 Boulevard Raspail, 75006 Paris, France; Laboratory of Biochemical Neuroendocrinology, Clinical Research Institute of Montreal, 110 West Pine Ave, Montreal, Canada; Centre Régional d'Imagerie Cellulaire, 34295 Montpellier, Cedex 5, France
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: bataille{at}montp.inserm.fr.
Miniglucagon (MG), the C-terminal glucagon fragment, processed from glucagon by the Miniglucagon-Generating Endopeptidase (MGE) at the Arg17-Arg18 dibasic site, displays biological effects opposite to that of the mother-hormone. This secondary processing occurs in the glucagon- and MG-producing
-cells of the islets of Langerhans and from circulating glucagon. We first characterized the enzymatic activities of MGE in culture media from glucagon and MG-secreting
TC1.6 cells as made of a metallo-endoprotease and an aminopeptidase. We observed that glucagon is a substrate for N-arginine dibasic convertase (NRDc), a metallo-endoprotease, and that Aminopeptidase B cleaves in vitro the intermediate cleavage products sequentially, releasing mature MG. Furthermore, immuno-depletion of either enzyme resulted in the disappearance of the majority of MGE activity from the culture medium. We found RNAs and proteins corresponding to both enzymes in different cell lines containing a MGE activity (mouse
TC1.6 cells, rat hepatic FaO and rat pituitary GH4C1). Using confocal microscopy, we observed a granular immunostaining of both enzymes in the
TC1.6 and native rat
-cells from islets of Langerhans. By immunogold electron microscopy, both enzymes were found in the mature secretory granules of
-cells, close to their substrate (glucagon) and their product (MG). Finally, we found NRDc only in the fractions from perfused pancreas that contain glucagon and miniglucagon after stimulation by hypoglycemia. We conclude that MGE is composed of NRDc and Aminopeptidase B acting sequentially, providing a molecular basis for this uncommon regulatory process, which should be now addressed in both physiological and pathophysiological situations.
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