Long reach of the NAAG family tree An Editorial for Evidence of NAAG-family tripeptide NAAG2 in the Drosophila nervous system on https://doi.org/10.1111/jnc.15173

The last common ancestor of humans and fruit flies lived about 800 million years ago, yet both of us have nervous systems that share a number of common important features, for example the use of glutamate as a neurotransmitter. We can now possibly add another common feature to the neural tissue of humans and fruit flies which is that of N-acetylaspartylglutamate (NAAG) peptides. This Editorial highlights an article by Kozic and coworkers in the current issue of the Journal of Neurochemistry, in which the authors report the discovery, in Drosophila melanogaster nervous system, of NAA-glutamylglutamate (NAAG2).

Automated summary

Despite living about 800 million years ago, humans and fruit flies share common important features in their nervous systems, such as the use of glutamate as a neurotransmitter, and potentially N-acetylaspartylglutamate (NAAG) peptides. The discovery of NAAG2 in the Drosophila melanogaster nervous system may add another common feature between the neural tissue of humans and fruit flies.