TY - JOUR
T1 - Identification of unique thyrotropin receptor (TSHR) splice variants in the chicken
T2 - The chicken TSHR gene revisited
AU - Grommen, Sylvia V.H.
AU - Taniuchi, Shusuke
AU - Darras, Veerle M.
AU - Takahashi, Sumio
AU - Takeuchi, Sakae
AU - Groef, Bert De
N1 - Funding Information:
Bert De Groef was supported by the Research Foundation—Flanders (FWO-Vlaanderen). This work was partially funded by FWO project G.0582.06 and by the K.U. Leuven Research Council project OT/05/34/TBA.
PY - 2008/5/1
Y1 - 2008/5/1
N2 - We previously described the cloning of the full-length chicken thyrotropin receptor (TSHRa) and two splice variants, lacking exon 3 (TSHRb) or both exons 2 and 3 (TSHRc). Here we report the identification of three novel splice variants of the chicken TSHR, named TSHRd, -e and -f, differing in their C-terminal region and containing unique exonic sequences that are not present in the other TSHR variants. This finding suggests a TSHR gene structure with 13 rather than the previously assumed 10 exons. The three novel exons appear to be chicken-specific, as no equivalents of these exons were found in other vertebrate genomes. Like the full-length receptor, the five TSHR splice variants are most abundantly expressed in thyroid gland. TSHRb, -d, -e and -f mRNA was also present in virtually all extra-thyroidal tissues expressing TSHRa, whereas TSHRc shows a more restricted tissue distribution. Whether these receptor transcripts are translated to functional proteins needs to be verified, but if so, they could be attributed various physiological roles.
AB - We previously described the cloning of the full-length chicken thyrotropin receptor (TSHRa) and two splice variants, lacking exon 3 (TSHRb) or both exons 2 and 3 (TSHRc). Here we report the identification of three novel splice variants of the chicken TSHR, named TSHRd, -e and -f, differing in their C-terminal region and containing unique exonic sequences that are not present in the other TSHR variants. This finding suggests a TSHR gene structure with 13 rather than the previously assumed 10 exons. The three novel exons appear to be chicken-specific, as no equivalents of these exons were found in other vertebrate genomes. Like the full-length receptor, the five TSHR splice variants are most abundantly expressed in thyroid gland. TSHRb, -d, -e and -f mRNA was also present in virtually all extra-thyroidal tissues expressing TSHRa, whereas TSHRc shows a more restricted tissue distribution. Whether these receptor transcripts are translated to functional proteins needs to be verified, but if so, they could be attributed various physiological roles.
KW - Alternative splicing
KW - Chicken
KW - Gene structure
KW - Thyrotropin receptor
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=42649096022&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ygcen.2008.03.003
DO - 10.1016/j.ygcen.2008.03.003
M3 - Article
SN - 0016-6480
VL - 156
SP - 460
EP - 463
JO - General and Comparative Endocrinology
JF - General and Comparative Endocrinology
IS - 3
ER -