Expression detection and partial cloning of porcine leptin receptor (OBR) gene

The product of the obesity gene, called leptin, is an important regulator o f adiposity, which mainly functions via its regulation of feed intake and e nergy metabolism. Both obesity gene (ob gene) and leptin receptor gene (OBR gene) are thought to play a major role in controlling of body fat mass as well as body weight, The result of RT-PCR shows that levels of pig OBR mRNA are higher in hypothalamus, lung and liver, and lower expression can be de tected in other tissues. Total RNA purified from II different organs and ti ssues have been hybridized with pig OBR cDNA probes, The hybridization sign als are shown in 7 organs and tissues. 4.1 and 3.8 kb bands were observed f rom hypothalamus, whereas 3.8 and 3.5 kb bands were observed in other tissu es instead. The nearly complete sequence of the extracellular domain of pig OBR gene was obtained. The homology of sequence is 89.2% between pig and h uman, 80.3% between pig and mouse. Alignment of the predicted amino acid se quence of OBR in pig, human and mouse shows that the overall identity is 86 .5% between pig and human, 76.6% between pig and mouse. Two WSXWS motifs we re found at aa(313) and aa(616).