Urotensin 2 Domain Containing Protein (UTS2D)

A novel peptide, UII-related peptide (URP), from the extract of the rat brain as the sole immunoreactive substance to anti-UII antibody. cDNAs encoding rat, mouse, and human precursor proteins for URP were cloned and revealed that the sequences of mouse and human URP peptides are the same as that for rat URP. Prepro-URP gene is expressed in several rat tissues such as those of the thymus, spleen, testis, and spinal cord, although with lower levels than the prepro-UII gene. In the human, the prepro-URP gene is expressed comparably to prepro-UII in several tissues except the spinal cord. URP was found to bind and activate the human or rat UII receptors (GPR14) and showed a hypotensive effect when administered to anesthetized rats. URP is the endogenous and functional ligand for UII receptor in the rat and mouse, and possibly in the human.