Molecular characterization of rat transforming growth factor-beta type II receptor

A cDNA encoding the rat transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) type II receptor was isolated by hybridization from a rat pituitary gland cDNA library. The rat TGF-beta type II receptor comprises 567 amino acid residues with a cysteine-rich extracellular domain, a single transmembrane domain and an intracellular protein kinase domain with predicted serine/threonine specificity. The comparison of the amino acid sequences of the rat and human TGF-beta type II receptors indicated that they are highly conserved particularly in the intracellular kinase domain. RNA blot hybridization and reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analyses showed that rat TGF-beta type II receptor is widely distributed in various tissues and is expressed abundantly in the ovary and lung.