Interaction of starfish gonadotropin with its receptor: Effect of chimeric relaxin-like gonad-stimulating peptides

A relaxin-like gonad-stimulating peptide (RGP) of starfish Patiria (Asterina) pectinifera is the first identified invertebrate gonadotropin for final gamete maturation. Recently, we found three orthologs of RGP in the class Asteroida; PpeRGP in P. pectinifera, AamRGP in Asterias amurensis, and AjaRGP in Aphelasterias japonica. In this study, nine kinds of RGP derivatives with exchanged each A- and B-chain were synthesized chemically to analyze the interaction of RGP with its receptor. Among these RGP derivatives, PpeRGP and its chimeric RGPs with B-chains from AamRGP or AjaRGP could induce oocyte maturation and ovulation in P. pectinifera ovaries. In contrast, other RGP derivatives were failed to induce spawning in P. pectinifera ovaries. Circular dichroism spectra of PpeRGP were similar to those of chimeric RGPs with the B-chains from AamRGP or AjaRGP. Furthermore, the predicted three-dimensional structure models of the B-chains from RGP derivatives have almost the same conformation. These findings suggest that the B-chain of PpeRGP is involved in binding to its receptor. Thus, it is likely that the A-chain of AamRGP or AjaRGP disturbs the binding of the PpeRGP B-chain to its receptor.