Isolation and Characterization of Chicken Secretin

Chicken secretin has been isolated and its structure determined. It is composed of 27 amino acid residues, and has an amidated C terminus. The amino acid sequence is His-Ser-Asp-Gly-Leu-Phe-Thr-Ser-Glu-Tyr-Ser-Lys-Met-Arg-Gly-Asn-Ala-Gln-Val-Gln -Lys-Phe-Ile-Gln-Asn-Leu-Met-NH2. The structure shows distinct similarities to that of porcine secretin, amino acid identities occur at 14 positions (residues 1-4, 6-9, 11, 14, 17, 20, 24 and 26) but considerable differences are also present among the remaining 13 positions. Chicken secretin further shows a clear structural similarity to the vasoactive intestinal peptide (37% identical positions), the gastric inhibitory peptide (30% identical positions) and to glucagon (52% identical positions), suggesting wide evolutionary and functional relationships.