The carboxy-terminal region of the beta-subunits of luteinizing hormone and chorionic gonadotropin differentially influence secretion and assembly of the heterodimers.

One of the major structural differences between the LH beta and CG beta subunits is the carboxy-terminal region: beyond amino acid 114, LH beta has a hydrophobic heptapeptide stretch, while CG beta contains a 31-amino acid hydrophilic carboxy-terminal peptide (CTP) that is O-glycosylated. The CG beta subunit is secreted quantitatively as a monomer and assembles efficiently whereas secretion and assembly of LH beta is inefficient. We previously implicated the carboxy-terminal heptapeptide as a determinant for the different intracellular behavior manifested by the LH beta subunit compared with the CG beta subunit. Here we tested the function of the heptapeptide and CTP domains by fusing them to their counterparts at amino acid 114 of CG beta or LH beta subunits. The secretion and assembly of these chimeras were examined in transfected Chinese hamster ovary cells. Removal of the heptapeptide enhanced the amount of LH beta subunit secreted 4-fold compared with intact LH beta. Fusion of this heptapeptide to CG beta 114, i.e. CG beta lacking the CTP, decreased the amount of secreted subunit 2-fold compared with wild type human CG beta. Similar experiments reveal that although deleting the CTP from the CG beta subunit did not significantly alter secretion, the combination efficiency of the truncated subunit was reduced to 60%. Perturbing the native carboxy-terminal sequence of either subunit increased the heterogeneity of the secreted forms. This result suggests that these regions are also involved in the posttranslational processing of the asparagine-linked oligosaccharides of the beta-subunits. Fusion of the LH beta heptapeptide to the truncated CG beta subunit decreased combination with the alpha-subunit. These data further support the hypothesis that the carboxy-terminal regions of LH beta and CG beta subunits play a role in the intracellular behavior of the corresponding heterodimers.