The post-translational maturation of antral progastrin was studied in the developing rat. While N-terminal proteolysis remained unchanged and tyrosine O-sulphation varied only slightly during ontogenesis, major changes were observed in the degree of alpha-carboxyamidation. In the third week of life the immediate precursor of amidated gastrin, glycine-extended gastrin, accumulated, and at weaning (day 21) the concentrations exceeded those of amidated gastrin. Our results confirm that weaning is accompanied by an increased synthesis of gastrin and imply that alpha-carboxyamidation is the rate-limiting step during the biosynthetic maturation of gastrin.
