The neuropeptides are implicated in many functions in the human nervous system, ranging from pain perception and mood regulation to the modulation of appetite and circadian rhythms. Many neuropeptides share common sequence elements and yet target different receptors; we suspect that this is not only due to new ligand-receptor contacts, but also due to conformational differences. In this light, our laboratory is interested in exploring the effect of peptide sequence and environment on neuropeptide conformation, as we suspect that even small peptides of less than thirty amino acids exhibit some degree of structural pre-organization for their respective receptors. This talk will relate our current investigation of this hypothesis in the context of the endogenous opioid peptide family and the human neuropeptide galanin.

Interplay of sequence and environment in the conformation of human neuropeptides

255th National Meeting (2018)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.