Sequence of the cDNA encoding porcine pro-opiomelanocortin.

Messenger RNA was extracted from porcine pituitary pars intermedia and cloned as cDNA by standard methods. The nucleotide sequence encoding porcine pro-opiomelanocortin was established from analysis of two separate cDNA segments having an overlap of 420 bases. The amino acid sequence for the porcine pro-opiomelanocortin protein, which was inferred from the cDNA sequence, was found to correspond exactly to the sequence determined by direct amino acid analysis of the component peptides of pro-opiomelanocortin; namely, the porcine hormones ACTH, beta-lipotropin, gamma-MSH and the connecting peptide. We thus find no evidence for the existence of two porcine pro-opiomelanocortin genes that differ in their coding sequences, as was suggested by the in vitro protein synthesis results of others using mRNA obtained from porcine pituitaries.