Molecular cloning of sheep and goat ferredoxin reductase messenger ribonucleic acids, and identification of an alternatively spliced form of sheep ferredoxin reductase.

Complementary DNA clones of mRNAs for sheep and goat NADPH-ferredoxin reductases (ferredoxin NADP+ oxidoreductase, EC 1.18.1.2) were isolated by the reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction method, and the complete nucleotide sequences of the coding and 3'-flanking regions of these cDNA clones were determined. Comparative analysis using the deduced amino acid sequences of NADPH-ferredoxin reductases clarified the interspecific conservation of the ferredoxin-binding and flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD)-binding regions, confirming the results reported previously. During this study, we happened to identify an alternatively spliced mRNA that completely lacks exon 3, just adjacent to the FAD-binding region of the sheep NADPH-ferredoxin reductase cDNA clone. In the screening of other alternatively spliced mRNAs of NADPH-ferredoxin reductases derived from several steroidogenic organs, such as adrenocortices, testes, and ovaries of sheep and goats, only one kind of alternatively spliced mRNA as described above was detected in sheep adrenocortices. Then, we constructed Escherichia coli expression systems for these two forms of mRNA and analyzed their enzymatic properties. We found that the ability of the alternatively spliced NADPH-ferredoxin reductase protein to transfer electrons to ferredoxin is completely abolished because FAD binding is inhibited.