Another first for Dr. Numa

Dr. Numa had another first to his name, namely he was this first to apply recombinant cDNA methods to go after the precursor structure for a neuropeptide.

These studies preceded his work on the nicotinic receptor.

The protein was pro-opiomelanocortin, the multifunctional precursor protein for a number of peptide hormones and neuropeptides (referred to as "multifunctional" because it can produce a number of peptides with different bioactivities).

The isolation and sequencing of precursor proteins is very difficult because they are present in only very low concentrations (because, after their biosynthesis they are usually rapidly processed to give the neuropeptides)

The recombinant cDNA approach gave Dr. Numa all the advantages over the classical biochemical methods that he later used to his advantage in going after receptor proteins.

So, Numa was the first to give us the full sequence of a complex precursor protein and the full sequence of a receptor molecule.

Reason enough, you might think, to consider him for a Nobel Prize.

Unfortunately Professor Numa died at the hight of his career in 1992.