Abstract
Insulin-like growth factor II (IGF-II) is believed to be involved in the development of the fetus. Northern and dot-blot analysis of RNA isolated from different sheep tissues at various stages of development were undertaken, revealing that the ovine IGF-II gene is expressed as a multitranscript family (6.0, 5.1, 5.0, 4.7, 3.8, 2.9, 2.3, 1.9, 1.6, 1.3 kb). Evidence that the ovine IGF-II gene may be regulated in a developmental, tissue-specific, co-ordinate or independent manner is presented. The developmental profile of IGF-II gene expression correlates with plasma levels (Mesiano et al. (1989) Endocrinology 124, 1485–1491), and suggests that the rapid fall in plasma concentration at term can be attributed to regulation at the transcriptional level. With the exception of the kidney, IGF-II expression was down-regulated at birth in all tissues examined. As in man but not rat, an adult liver-specific transcript was detected and attributed to different 5' untranslated regions in the fetal and adult IGF-II mRNAs. The finding of IGF-II transcripts in all tissues examined supports evidence from other species of autocrine/paracrine roles for IGF-II in the development of the fetus.
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