179 research outputs found
Expression and Activation of Gonadotropin Receptors
Among the many hormones that are produced by the anterior pituitary gland, luteinizing
hormone (LH, lutropin), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH, follitropin), and thyroidstimulating
hormone (TSH, thyrotropin) form the separate family of so-called glycoprotein
hormones (reviewed by Oharib el al., 1990). These hormones consist of two glycosylated
subunits, a and p, which are associated through non-covalent interactions. The a-subunit is
identical for all glycoprotein hormones, whereas the p-subunit is hormone specific. The
gonadotropins, LH and FSH, are the key regulators of testis and ovary function, and are
synthesized in cells called the gonadotrophs of the pituitary gland. TSH, which regulates
thyroid function, is produced in the thyrotrophs. In primates and horses, a fourth
glycoprotein hormone exists, chorionic gonadotropin (CO), which is synthesized in the
placenta during pregnancy, and is structurally and functionally related to LH (Oharib el al.,
1990)
Regulation of gonadotropin receptor gene expression
The receptors for the gonadotropins differ from the other G protein-coupled receptors by having a large extracellular hormone-binding domain, encoded by nine or ten exons. Alternative splicing of the large pre-mRNA of approximately 100 kb can result in mRNA species that encode truncated receptor proteins. In this review we discuss the regulation of gonadotropin receptor mRNA expression and the possible roles of alternative splicing in gonadotropin receptor function
Alternative splicing of follicle-stimulating hormone receptor pre-mRNA: cloning and characterization of two alternatively spliced mRNA transcripts
Glycoprotein hormone receptors contain a large extracellular domain that
is encoded by multiple exons, facilitating the possibility of expressing
alternatively spliced transcripts. We have cloned two new splice variants
of the rat follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) receptor gene: FSH-R1 and
FSH-R2. The splice variant FSH-R1 differs from the full-length FSH
receptor mRNA by the inclusion of a small extra exon between exons 9 and
10. FSH-R2 lacks the first three base pairs o
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