Cloning and DNA sequence analysis of the cDNA for the common alpha-subunit of the ovine pituitary glycoprotein hormones.

The a-subunit is common to the family of heterodimeric glycoprotein hormones FSH, LH, TSH and the placerual chorionic gonadotropin (CG). Clones coding for the pre a-subunit of the pituitary glycoprotein hormones were isolated from a lamb pituitary XgtlO cDNA library [1] using a synthetic oligonucleotide probe based on the published amino acid sequence of the ovine a-subunit [2] and nucleotide sequences for the bovine a-subunit [3,4]. The complete nucleotide sequence as determined by dideoxy sequence analysis [5] and exonuclease HI digestion [6] and the predicted amino acid sequence of one clone, designated o32, is given in Figure 1.