Genomic structure, organization, and expression of the chicken GHS-R gene consisting of two exons separated by a single intron. Different alternative splicing mechanisms are used to produce three transcript variants (GHS-R1a, GHS-R1aV, and GHS-Rtv) that encode proteins of 347, 331, and 220 amino acids, respectively. Sequence encoding a major portion of transmembrane domain 6 (TMD 6), located at the -end of exon 2, is shown and is spliced out of the GHS-R1aV transcript. The GHS-Rtv variant is formed by splicing two portions of intron sequence, one of which contains an alternative stop codon () which is predicted to produce a receptor protein truncated after TMD 5. Expression of each of the GHS-R mRNA transcript variants in different tissues obtained from 3-week-old broiler chickens is also shown.
