Molecular cloning of the testicular follicle stimulating hormone receptor of the non human primate Macaca fascicularis and identification of multiple transcripts in the testis

Abstract

Reverse transcription PCR was used to amplify the complete open reading frame of the follicle-stimulating hormone receptor (FSHR) from testicular poly (A)+ RNA of the non-human primate Macaca fascicularis. Along with the structural motifs of a G-protein coupled receptor, sequence analysis reveals that the monkey FSHR is highly homologous to the human FSHR and has specific features such as N-linked glycosylation sites which are identical to the human FSHR but not present in the rat or ovine FSHR. Northern blot hybridization of testicular poly (A)+ RNA to a cRNA probe corresponding to the extracellular domain of the monkey FSHR resulted in the identification of several transcripts, indicating alternative splicing events of the primary transcript.