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Molecular Cloning and Functional Characterization of a Vasotocin Receptor Subtype That Is Expressed in the Shell Gland and Brain of the Domestic Chicken¹

^a Departments of Physiology and Biophysics, ^b Pediatrics, ^c Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, Arkansas 72205 ^d Department of Medicine, Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin Laboratories, Bristol Royal Infirmary, Bristol, United Kingdom ^e Laboratory of Genetics, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892 ^f Department of Biology, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Little Rock, Arkansas 72202 ^g Department of Animal Physiology, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan

In chickens, oviposition is correlated with increased plasma levels of the neurohypophysial hormone vasotocin, and vasotocin stimulates contraction of uterine strips in vitro. A gene encoding a vasotocin receptor subtype that we have designated the VT1 receptor was cloned from the domestic chicken. The open reading frame encodes a 370-amino acid polypeptide that displays seven segments of hydrophobic amino acids, typical of guanine nucleotide-protein-coupled receptors. Other structural features of the VT1 receptor include two potential N-linked glycosylation sites in the extracellular N-terminal region, a conserved aspartic acid in transmembrane domain 2 that is found in nearly all guanine nucleotide-protein-coupled receptors, and two potential protein kinase C phosphorylation sites in the third intracellular loop and C-terminal tail. Expressed VT1 receptors in COS7 cells bind neurohypophysial hormones with the following rank order of potency: vasotocin vasopressin > oxytocin mesotocin > isotocin. In addition, the expressed VT1 receptor mediates vasotocin-induced phosphatidylinositol turnover and Ca²⁺ mobilization. In the chicken, expression of VT1 receptor gene transcripts is limited to the shell gland (uterus) and the brain. Thus, the VT1 receptor that we have cloned may mediate contractions of the shell gland during oviposition and activate reproductive behaviors known to be stimulated by vasotocin in lower vertebrates.

First decision: 20 July 1999.

¹ This work was supported by NSF IBN9727915 (L.E.C.) and the Wellcome Trust, U.K. (S.J.L.).

² Correspondence: Lawrence E. Cornett, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Slot #750, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, 4301 West Markham Street, Little Rock, AR 72205. FAX: 501 296 1469; cornettlawrencee{at}exchange.uams.edu

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