Molecular cloning and tissue distribution of the ovine somatostatin receptor subtype 5: osst5

The sheep is a valuable model to study growth hormone (GH) neuroregulation since its GH secretion pattern is close to that in humans and an integrated physiological approach is possible in this species. Somatostatin receptor subtype 5 (sst5) appears to be important in GH regulation but the ovine sst5 gene (osst5) has not yet been cloned. We report here the cloning of sst5 in that species. We screened a cDNA sheep library and isolated a 1.24 kb cDNA, which includes the whole coding region of osst5. The predicted protein consists of 367 amino acids exhibiting a putative seven transmembrane domain topology typical of G protein-coupled receptors. Nucleotide sequence comparisons with that of other species sst5 showed that osst5 displays 83.8, 81 and 79.7% homology with human, rat, and mice sst5, respectively. Southern blot analysis of ovine cortex DNA demonstrated that osst5 is encoded by a single gene. Osst5 transiently expressed in Chinese Hamster ovary (CHO) cells exhibit a high affinity for somatostatin-14. Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) studies demonstrated that osst5 mRNAs are present in pituitary, cortex, hypothalamus, hippocampus, colon and adrenal gland. The cloning of osst5 should provide a useful tool to study the mechanisms through which somatostatin inhibits hormone secretion in the sheep.