Cloning and Characterization of Spliced Variants of the Porcine G Protein Coupled Receptor 120

Abstract EN

The polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) receptor GPR120 exerts a significant impact on systemic nutrient homeostasis in human and rodents.

However, the porcine GPR120 (pGPR120) has not been well characterized.

In the current study, we found that pGPR120 had 3 spliced variants.

Transcript 1 encoded 362-amino acids (aa) wild type pGPR120-WT, which shared 88% homology with human short form GPR120.

Transcript 1 was the mainly expressed transcript of pGPR120.

It was expressed predominantly in ileum, jejunum, duodenum, spleen, and adipose.

Transcript 3 (coding 320-aa isoform) was detected in spleen, while the transcript 2 (coding 310-aa isoform) was only slightly expressed in spleen.

A selective agonist for human GPR120 (TUG-891) and PUFAs activated SRE-luc and NFAT-luc reporter in HEK293T cells transfected with construct for pGPR120-WT but not pGPR120-V2.

However, 320-aa isoform was not a dominant negative isoform.

The extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) phosphorylation levels in cells transfected with construct for pGPR120-WT were well activated by PUFAs, especially n-3 PUFA.

These results showed that although pGPR120 had 3 transcripts, transcript 1 which encoded pGPR120-WT was the mainly expressed transcript.

TUG-891 and PUFAs, especially n-3 PUFA, well activated pGPR120-WT.

The current study contributed to dissecting the molecular regulation mechanisms of n-3 PUFA in pigs.