The ovine somatostatin receptor subtype 1 (osst1): partial cloning and tissue distribution

The sheep is a valuable model to study GH neuroregulation since its GH secretion pattern is close to that in human. Somatostatin receptor subtype 1 (sst1) appears to be important in central regulation of GH but ovine sst1 (osst1) has not yet been cloned. We report here the cloning of the major part of sst1 in that species. Using human primers from transmembrane domain 2 and 7, we amplified from sheep tissue by RT-PCR a 700 bp fragment. By screening a cDNA sheep library with this fragment, we isolated a 1.4 kb cDNA which contained the major part of the coding cDNA of osst1. The partial predicted protein consists of 347 amino acids exhibiting a putative seven transmembrane domain topology typical of G protein-coupled receptors. Nucleotide sequence comparisons with that of other species showed that osst1 displays 88% homology with human sst1, 84% with rat sst1 and 87% with mouse sst1. Southern blot analysis of ovine cortex DNA demonstrated that osst1 is encoded by a single gene. Northern blot studies evidenced a 3.9 kb transcript highly expressed in the cortex and the hippocampus. This transcript was also present in hypothalamus, striatum, cerebellum, olfactory bulb, spinal cord, brain stem, the lung, kidney, liver, adrenal glands and at a low level in the pituitary gland. No signal was noticeable in the pineal gland. The sequence homology, the tissue distribution, the length of the transcript link this cDNA to the somatostatin receptor family and particularly to sst1.