Molecular biology of renin. I: Gene and protein structure, synthesis and processing

This two-part review aims to consolidate information on renin structure, synthesis, precursor processing, intracellular shunting and transcriptional control. Such revolutionary advances in the molecular knowledge of renin stem from the cloning of mouse renin complementary DNA in the early 1980s.

Amongst many of the key studies such as cloning of human, mouse and rat renin genes, which have been crucial to progress, several highlights covered in this part include: differences in DNA sequences that might explain species differences in tissue-specific expression; identification of inactive renin as pro-renin, the activation site and the molecular explanation for this activation by many proteases; a different processing site for rat pro-renin; and identification of cathepsin B as a likely pro-renin activator in kidney and a kallikrein as the activator of the duplicated mouse renin gene product.

Cloning of the renin gene has greatly increased our understanding of the processes that precede secretion of this important enzyme.