Key Laboratory for Conservation and Use of Important Biological Resources of Anhui Province, College of Life Sciences, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu, Anhui 241000, China; College of Life Sciences, Inner Mongolia Normal University, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia 010022, China.
Key Laboratory for Conservation and Use of Important Biological Resources of Anhui Province, College of Life Sciences, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu, Anhui 241000, China.
Gene. 2018 Oct 20;674:178-187. doi: 10.1016/j.gene.2018.06.033. Epub 2018 Jun 26.
Sex steroid hormones play an important role in mediating physiological responses and developmental processes through their receptors across all vertebrates. Chinese alligator (Alligator sinensis) is a critically endangered reptile species unique to China. In this study, we have cloned one of the sex steroid hormone receptor genes, androgen receptor (AR) from the brain of Chinese alligator for the first time. The full-length AR cDNA is 2717 bp in length with an open reading frame (ORF) encoding 722 amino acids. Amino acid alignment analyses indicated that the ARs exhibit highly conserved functional domains. Especially, the P-box and D-box, which are essential to ensure that receptor binding to the androgen response elements, are completely conserved in selected species. Using the quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR), the spatial expression of four receptor mRNAs in all newborn brain tissues and temporal expression of them in the cerebrum during the embryonic development in Chinese alligators were investigated. The results of qPCR showed ubiquitous expression of the four receptor mRNAs in all newborn brain tissues examined and significant changes in the expression levels of these receptor mRNAs in the embryonic development. These results suggest that sex steroid hormones might play an important role in the regulation of complex neuroendocrine activities in newborn Chinese alligator. Furthermore, these data provide an important foundation for further studies on endocrinology and molecular biology of non-mammalian sex steroid hormone receptors.
性甾体激素通过其受体在所有脊椎动物中发挥重要作用，介导生理反应和发育过程。扬子鳄（Alligator sinensis）是中国特有的一种极危爬行动物。本研究首次从扬子鳄脑中克隆到一种性甾体激素受体基因——雄激素受体（AR）。AR cDNA 全长 2717bp，开放阅读框（ORF）编码 722 个氨基酸。氨基酸序列比对分析表明，AR 具有高度保守的功能域。特别是 P 盒和 D 盒，对于确保受体与雄激素反应元件结合至关重要，在所选物种中完全保守。采用实时荧光定量 PCR（qPCR）技术，研究了 4 种受体 mRNA 在所有新生鳄脑组织中的空间表达，以及在胚胎发育过程中大脑中的时间表达。qPCR 结果显示，在所检测的所有新生鳄脑组织中，这 4 种受体 mRNA 均广泛表达，并且这些受体 mRNA 的表达水平在胚胎发育过程中发生显著变化。这些结果表明，性甾体激素可能在新生扬子鳄复杂神经内分泌活动的调节中发挥重要作用。此外，这些数据为非哺乳动物性甾体激素受体的内分泌学和分子生物学研究提供了重要基础。
