Characterization of mouse inhibin alpha gene and its promoter.

Inhibin suppresses the pituitary secretion of FSH but not LH. The two forms of inhibin are composed of a common alpha subunit linked to either a beta A or a beta B subunit. The mouse inhibin alpha gene was isolated and shown to have two exons spanning a 1.7 Kb intron. The proximal 5' flanking region has neither TATA and CAAT boxes nor GC-rich area. Using the 5' flanking region of mouse inhibin alpha gene linked to luciferase gene, transfection of rat granulosa cells indicated that the first 165 bp of the promoter region is required for basal expression. The mouse inhibin alpha genomic clone should be useful for analysis of hormonal control of inhibin alpha transcription and the generation of mice with targeted deletion of this gene.