Cloning and tissue distribution of a new rat olfactory receptor-like (OL2)

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to clone an intronless cDNA encoding a new member (named OL2) of the G protein-coupled receptor superfamily. The coding region of the rat OL2 receptor gene predicts a seven transmembrane domain receptor of 315 amino acids. OL2 has 46.4 percent amino acid identity with OL1, an olfactory receptor expressed in the developing rat heart, and slightly lower percent indentities with several other olfactory receptors. PCR analysis reveals that the transcript is present mainly in the rat spleen and in a mouse insulin-secreting cell line (MIN6). No correlation was found between the tissue distribution of OL2 and that of the olfaction-related GTP-binding protein Golf alpha subunit. These findings suggest a role for this new hypothetical G-protein coupled receptor and for its still unknown ligand in the spleen and in the insulin-secreting beta cells.