Al. Roca et al., STRUCTURE, CHARACTERIZATION, AND EXPRESSION OF THE GENE ENCODING THE MOUSE MEL(1A) MELATONIN RECEPTOR, Endocrinology, 137(8), 1996, pp. 3469-3477
Recently, a distinct family of G protein-coupled receptors has been cl
oned that mediates the biological effects of melatonin. Of two subtype
s cloned from mammals (Mel(1a) and Mel(1b)), the Mel(1a) receptor appe
ars to mediate the circadian and reproductive effects of the hormone.
We now report the cloning, characterization, and expression of the gen
e encoding the Mel(1a) receptor in mice. The receptor gene is composed
of two exons, separated by an intron of greater than 13 kilobases. Ex
on 1 encodes the entire 5'-untranslated region and the coding region t
hrough the first cytoplasmic loop. Exon 2 encodes the rest of the codi
ng region and the entire 3'-untranslated region. 5'-Rapid amplificatio
n of complementary DNA ends and ribonuclease protection analyses show
that the major transcription start site is 103 nucleotides upstream of
the translation start codon. Sequence analysis of 1.1 kilobases of th
e 5'-flanking region reveals that it does not contain TATA or CAAT box
es. The 5'-flanking region drives luciferase expression 114-fold over
basal levels in a murine retinal cell line that endogenously expresses
the Mel(1a) receptor. The mouse receptor binds 2-[(125)]iodomelatonin
with high affinity (K-d = 55.6 pM) when expressed transiently in COS-
7 cells. In situ hybridization studies establish that Mel(1a) receptor
messenger RNA is expressed in the hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nuclei
and hypophyseal pars tuberalis, presumed sites of the circadian and s
ome of reproductive actions of melatonin, respectively. These results
provide information on Mel(1a) receptor gene structure essential for d
esigning transgenic and gene knock-out studies and analyzing the trans
criptional regulation of receptor gene expression.