Provasopressin-neurophysin II processing is cell-specific in heterologous cell lines expressing a metallothionein-vasopressin fusion gene.

Preprovasopressin-neurophysin II (prepro-AVP-Np), the precursor of the cyclic, amidated nonapeptide, arginine vasopressin (AVP), is present in the central and peripheral nervous systems, adrenal glands, and gonads of rats. To study cell-specific processing of prepro-AVP-Np, a fusion gene consisting of the heavy metal-inducible promoter of the mouse metallothionein I gene and the rat prepro-AVP-Np gene was introduced by cellular transfection into several defined cell phenotypes: a fibroblast line (BHK), a pituitary growth hormone and prolactin-producing cell line (GH4), a pituitary cell line that produces several amidated peptides (AtT-20), and an insulin-producing pancreatic islet line (RIN- 1046-38). Clonal cell lines were isolated and prepro-AVP-Np-specific transcripts were detected by Northern blot hybridization analyses. Fibroblast BHK and pituitary GH4 cells transfected with the fusion gene synthesized a polypeptide (Mr = 18,000) characteristic of the glycosylated precursor, pro-AVP-Np; in metal -treated cells, this protein was the major secreted cysteine-labeled polypeptide. Extracts of RIN-1046-38 and AtT-20 cells transfected with the fusion gene contained predominantly processed neurophysin and amidated arginine vasopressin, whereas extracts of BHK and GH4 cells contained mainly precursors of AVP and neurophysin. These observations indicate that the pathways involving specific post-translational processing of pro-AVP-Np are more efficiently utilized in the prohormone-producing AtT-20 and RIN-1046-38 cells than in GH4 and BHK cells that do not synthesize any recognized prohormones.