CLONING AND SEQUENCING OF THE EQUINE TESTICULAR FOLLITROPIN RECEPTOR

To investigate the possibility that specific structural determinants w ithin the equine follitropin receptor (eFSHR) are critical to the enha nced specificity of this receptor compared to other FSHRs, we used the RACE-PCR technique to clone the eFSHR from equine testis. Sequence an alysis revealed that the eFSHR is highly homologous to other mammal FS HRs, but it presents 10 unique amino acid residue replacements in the extracellular domain. Furthermore, a potential N-glycosylation site wa s detected at a position not encountered in other receptors. Northern blot analysis identified three transcripts of 4.2 kb, 2.3 kb and 1.0 k b in horse testis. (C) 1994 Academic Press, Inc.