PRESENCE OF THE SAME TRANSCRIPT OF PROOPIOMELANOCORTIN (POMC) GENES IN THE PORCINE ANTERIOR AND INTERMEDIATE PITUITARY LOBES

The existence of heterogeneous molecular species of pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) has been reported and it has been inferred that this explains the distinct release patterns of POMC-derived peptide hormones by the anterior and intermediate lobes of the pituitary gland. The aim of this study was to determine the nucleotide sequences of porcine pituitary anterior and intermediate lobar POMC from animals of the same strain. The POMC cDNAs were obtained using immunoscreening (anterior lobe) and the polymerase chain reaction (intermediate lobe), and their nucleotide sequences determined. Comparisons of the coding and the 5'-untranslated regions of the two POMCs demonstrated that their nucleotide sequences were identical and Northern blot analysis showed that both mRNAs were the same length. Therefore, the results of this study confirm that the same POMC transcript is present in both the anterior and intermediate pituitary lobes. The differences between the nucleotide and amino acid sequences of porcine POMC found hitherto may be attributable to strain differences. Comparisons of porcine and several vertebrate POMCs revealed highly conserved amino acid sequences in the regions corresponding to the peptide hormones, but the regions between them show considerable evolutionary divergence.