COSTANTIO,D.*; KOZAK, K.; LECAUDE, S.; ALRUBAIAN, J.; DORES, R.M.: Cloning of a proopiomelanocortin cDNA from the pituitary of the urodele amphibian, Aphiuma means.

The proopiomelanocortin (POMC) gene has been cloned from several anuran amphibians, however, the organization of this prohormone-coding gene had not been analyzed in a urodele amphibian. A degenerate primer was used to clone and sequence a POMC cDNA from the pituitary of the urodele, <>Amphiuma means<>. The cloning strategy involved the use of a 3’RACE procedure and a 5’RACE procedure. The open reading frame of the <>A. means<> POMC cDNA coded for a 267 amino acid precursor that contained the sequences of ALPHA, BETA, and GAMMA MSH, as well as ACTH, and BETA-endorphin. The <>A. means<> POMC sequence was aligned to several anuran POMC sequences including <>Xenopus laevis<>, <>Spea multiplicatus<>, <>Rana ridibunda<>, and <>Bufo marinus<>, and to two lungfish POMC sequences (African and Australian). As expected, cladistic analyses placed the <>A. means<> POMC sequence as the sister group to the clade of anuran amphibian POMC sequences. This project was supported by NSF grant IBN-9810516.