Detection of early changes in androgen-induced mouse renal beta-glucuronidase messenger ribonucleic acid using cloned complementary deoxyribonucleic acid.

beta-Glucuronidase mRNA was purified from androgen-induced mouse kidney by immunoadsorption of polysomes to protein A-Sepharose. Cell-free translation of mRNA isolated from the protein A bound RNA followed by immunoprecipitation revealed that beta-glucuronidase mRNA represented approximately 2% of the purified mRNA fraction. This mRNA preparation was used to produce complementary DNA clones by recombination with pBR322. Clones containing sequences that were enriched during the purification procedure were selected by differential colony hybridization. These were further screened for homology with beta-glucuronidase mRNA by hybrid-selected translation. A beta-glucuronidase cDNA clone, designated pGUS7, was identified by these criteria. With this plasmid, the abundance of beta-glucuronidase mRNA in total poly(A) mRNA from androgen-induced mouse kidney was estimated to be less than 0.04%. The beta-glucuronidase cDNA plasmid hybridized to a mRNA of 2.6 kb in length, which was induced in an androgen receptor dependent fashion over a time course of 21 days. Treatment of female mice with a single dose of testosterone (10 mg) revealed that beta-glucuronidase mRNA concentration begins to increase between 12 and 24 h after hormone administration.