Cloning and expression of cDNA for anti-müllerian hormone.

Messenger RNA, prepared from fetal bovine testicular tissue, was used to construct a cDNA library in lambda gt11 phage. The library was screened with an antibody probe directed against bovine anti-Müllerian hormone and three positive clones were isolated. Cross-hybridizing cDNA inserts carried by clones 4 and 5 (1.2 and 0.08 kilobases long, respectively) code for a fragment of authentic anti-Müllerian hormone, as shown by the ability of the anti-epitope antibodies eluted from fusion protein 4 to bind strongly to anti-Müllerian hormone on immunoblots and by the capacity of anti-epitope antibodies 4 and 5 to precipitate radioiodinated bovine anti-Müllerian hormone. A probe prepared from insert 4 hybridizes with an mRNA present only in tissues that are known producers of anti-Müllerian hormone, such as the fetal testis and adult ovarian follicles. The amount of specific mRNA in tissues of males and females is related to the rate of their anti-Müllerian hormone production. The 2.1-kilobase size of this mRNA species is large enough to code for the Mr 62,000 anti-Müllerian hormone polypeptide chain. Insert 4 also hybridizes with an mRNA of similar size in human and rat fetal testicular tissue. The third isolated clone, clone 8, which does not cross-hybridize with the others, carries a cDNA insert coding for a ubiquitous protein, smaller than anti-Müllerian hormone, with which it apparently shares an epitope.