Characterization of the chicken prolactin-releasing peptide receptor gene

Abstract

Prolactin-releasing peptide receptor (PrRPR) belongs to G-proteincoupled receptor family with seven transmembrane domains and binds theprolactin-releasing peptide to stimulate the release of pituitary prolactin.Here, we have identified the complementary DNA encoding prolactin-releasing peptide receptor (cPrRPR) (AY847003) in chicken pituitary.cPrRPR gene consisted of one exon. Using the BLAST algorithm search,cPrRPR gene was found to locate on chicken chromosome 6. Computeranalysis showed that the 5’-flanking region of cPrRPR gene has a typicalTATA-box located from -117 to - 108 and putative binding sites for sev-eral transcription factors including CdxA, AP-1 and c-Ets-1. The completecoding sequence of the cPrRPR encodes 353 amino acids and shares 54%-56% sequence identity with mammalian PrRPRs. Using reverse transcrip-tion-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), we examined the expressions ofcPrRPR mRNA in the chicken pituitary, brain, breast muscle, heart, lung,liver, intestine, ovary, spleen and testis. The highest expression of cPrRPRmRNA was detected in the pituitary, however, cPrRPR mRNA wasdetected in the brain, heart, lung, intestine, ovary, spleen and testis. Thewide distribution of cPrRPR mRNA suggests that cPrRPR may has vari-ous biological functions in other tissues as well as anterior pituitary.