[
Worm Breeder's Gazette,
1986]
Our aim is to obtain peptides of known sequence from Ascaris in order to determine their mode of action using electrophysiological methods. Since McIntire and Horvitz (C. elegans CSH Abstracts 1985) showed that cholecystokinin-like immunoreactivity (CCK-LI) is present in certain neurons in C. elegans, we are initially investigating the role of a CCK-like peptide (CCK-LP) in the nervous system of Ascaris using anti-CCK8 antisera to detect and localize CCK-LI. Using the methods developed by Johnson (see Johnson and Stretton, Soc. Neurosci. Abstr. 9: 302; Sithigorngul, Johnson and Stretton, C. elegans CSH Abstracts 1985) we find that in Ascaris, CCK-LI is concentrated in 2 cells (AVF cells) in the ventral nerve cord, in 3 cells in the ventral ganglion, in 4 processes in the ventral cord, and in 2 processes in the lateral line. Thus the CCK-LP is concentrated in a small minority of the 180 neurons present in the anterior region of adult Ascaris.We have developed a procedure for extracting the CCK- LP from C. elegans and fractionating the extract on a C18 cartridge. High voltage paper electrophoresis shows that added radioiodinated CCK8 is chemically intact after this extraction and after fractionation. The CCK-LP was separated from more hydrophilic components with a 20-40% gradient of acetonitrile on reversed phase HPLC. RIA's detected CCK-LI associated with a peak of optical density. Addition of authentic CCK8 (non-sulfated) to the sample showed that the RIA-positive peak was close to, but distinctly separate from, CCK8. Assuming that the specific immunoreactivity of nematode CCK-LP and mammalian CCK8 is the same, we can obtain 100 pmoles from 60g of C. elegans. From this crude estimate, it seems that the levels of recoverable peptide are sufficient for amino acid sequence determination which is now our top priority.