Cloning and characterization of androgen-dependent mRNA from rat ventral prostate

DNA complementary to three androgen-dependent mRNAs from rat ventral prostate has been cloned in the bacterial plasmid pAT 153. DNA sequences coding for 20,000, 10,000, and 9,000 translation products, the precursors of polypeptides secreted in vivo (Parker, M. G., and Scrace, G.T. (1979) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 76, 1580--1584) were identified in recombinant plasmids. The levels of mRNA coding for the 20,000 and 10,000 translation products were quantitated using cDNA probes and also by hybridization in situ with RNA that had been covalently bound to diazobenzyloxymethyl paper. Both mRNAs responded with similar kinetics to androgen withdrawal and testosterone stimulation. The sequences declined with nonlinear kinetics by at least 3 orders of magnitude after androgen withdrawal and are induced by testosterone without an appreciable lag, a 3-fold increase being detectable within 2 h. Analysis of the RNA bound to diazobenzyloxymethyl paper indicates that the mRNAs coding for the 20,000, 10,000, and 9,000 translation products contain 930, 640, and 550 nucleotides, respectively.