Flank organs of male Golden Syrian hamsters contain sebaceous glands and ha
ir follicles whose morphology and function are highly dependent on androgen
, which makes these organs a useful model to study androgen action. In orde
r to investigate molecular mechanisms of androgen action, we cloned a cDNA
encoding the hamster androgen receptor (hamAR) by polymerase chain reaction
(PCR) amplification of hamster testis cDNA. Nucleotide sequence analysis r
evealed that the cDNA has the capacity to encode a polypeptide of 900 amino
acid. The deduced amino acid sequence was highly homologous to those of an
drogen receptors (AR) from other species. Western blot analysis of COS1 cel
ls transfected with a vector expressing hamAR revealed that the recombinant
ham AR was identical in size to that of endogeneous ham AR expressed in li
ver, sebaceous glands and testis. We further demonstrated that transfection
of the hamAR expression vector into COS1 cells resulted in activation of a
luciferase reporter gene containing multiple androgen responsive elements
(ARE) in a testosterone-dependent manner. Availability of the recombinant h
amAR clone along with the flank organ system should provide a more powerful
tool than currently available to investigate androgen action at the molecu
lar level. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.