CLONING AND TISSUE EXPRESSION OF 2 PUTATIVE STEROID MEMBRANE-RECEPTORS

We have cloned two human putative steroid binding membrane proteins, t ermed Hpr6.6 and Dg6. Hpr6.6 is the human homolog of a previously clon ed porcine progesterone binding protein. Both proteins contain a putat ive transmembrane domain and a highly conserved stretch of 58 amino ac ids. Hpr6.6 mRNA is expressed predominantly in liver and kidney, where as Dg6 mRNA is preferentially expressed in placenta. Hpr6.6 is located on the X chromosome and dg6 on chromosome 4. The two proteins are the first putative steroid membrane receptors cloned from man.