EXPRESSION OF THE MELATONIN RECEPTOR IN XENOPUS-LAEVIS - A COMPARATIVE-STUDY BETWEEN PROTEIN AND MESSENGER-RNA DISTRIBUTION

Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis perf ormed on total RNA from different tissues of Xenopus laevis showed tha t the melatonin receptor gene cloned from dermal melanophores is expre ssed in the whole brain, skin, and retina, and that apart from the ova ry, there is no expression in tissues having origin outside the centra l nervous system. Comparative studies using in vitro autoradiography a nd in situ hybridization demonstrated that the melatonin receptor is e xpressed with discrete allocation in Xenopus brain. Though the distrib ution pattern of the specific messenger RNA conforms well with that of the corresponding receptor protein, it is not always coincident.