Cloning of the hamster androgen receptor gene

Flank organs of male Golden Syrian hamsters contain sebaceous glands and hair follicles whose morphology and function are highly dependent on androgen, which makes these organs a useful model to study androgen action. In order to investigate molecular mechanisms of androgen action, we cloned a cDNA encoding the hamster androgen receptor (hamAR) by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of hamster testis cDNA. Nucleotide sequence analysis revealed that the cDNA has the capacity to encode a polypeptide of 900 amino acid. The deduced amino acid sequence was highly homologous to those of androgen receptors (AR) from other species. Western blot analysis of COS1 cells transfected with a vector expressing hamAR revealed that the recombinant ham AR was identical in size to that of endogeneous ham AR expressed in liver, sebaceous glands and testis. We further demonstrated that transfection of the hamAR expression vector into COS1 cells resulted in activation of a luciferase reporter gene containing multiple androgen responsive elements (ARE) in a testosterone-dependent manner. Availability of the recombinant hamAR clone along with the flank organ system should provide a more powerful tool than currently available to investigate androgen action at the molecular level.