Equine chorionic gonadotropin (eCG), produced by the endometrial cups of the placenta after the first trimester, is a specific glycoprotein that displays dual luteinizing hormone (LH)like and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH)-like effects in non-equid species. However, in equidaes, eCG exhibits only LH-like activity. To identify the specific biological functions of glycosylated sites in eCG, we constructed the following site mutants of N-and O-linked glycosylation: eCGβ/αΔ56, substitution of α-subunit 56 N-linked glycosylation site; eCGβ-D/ α, deletion of the O-linked glycosylation sites at the β-subunit, and eCGβ-D/αΔ56, double mutant. We produced recombinant eCG (rec-eCG) proteins in Chinese hamster ovary suspension (CHO-S) cells. We examined the biological activity of rec-eCG proteins in CHO-K1 cells expressing the eLH/CG receptor and found that signal transduction activities of deglycosylated mutants remarkably decreased. The EC 50 levels of eCGβ/αΔ56, eCGβ-D/ α, and eCGβ-D/αΔ56 mutants decreased by 2.1-, 5.6-, and 3.4-fold, respectively, compared to that of wild-type eCG. The Rmax values of the mutants were 56%-80% those of wildtype eCG (141.9 nmol/10 4 cells). Our results indicate that the biological activity of eCG is greatly affected by the removal of N-and O-linked glycosylation sites in cells expressing eLH/ CGR. These results provide important information on rec-eCG in the regulation of specific glycosylation sites and improve our understanding of the specific biological activity of rec-eCG glycosylation sites in equidaes.

This study aimed to investigate the signal transduction of phosphorylation sites at the carboxyl (C)-terminal region of equine luteinizing hormone/chorionic gonadotropin receptor (eLH/ CGR). The eLH/CGR has a large extracellular domain of glycoprotein hormone receptors within the G protein-coupled receptors. We constructed a mutant (eLH/CGR-t656) of eLH/ CGR, in which the C-terminal cytoplasmic tail was truncated at the Phe656 residue, through polymerase chain reaction. The eLH/CGR-t656 removed 14 potential phosphorylation sites in the intracellular C-terminal region. The plasmids were transfected into Chinese hamster ovary (CHO)-K1 and PathHunter Parental cells expressing β-arrestin, and agonist-induced cAMP responsiveness was analyzed. In CHO-K1 cells, those expressing eLH/CGR-t656 were lower than those expressing eLH/CGR wild-type (eLH/CGR-wt). The EC 50 of the eLH/ CGR-t656 mutant was approximately 72.2% of the expression observed in eLH/CGR-wt. The maximal response in eLH/CGR-t656 also decreased to approximately 43% of that observed in eLH/CGR-wt. However, in PathHunter Parental cells, cAMP activity and maximal response of the eLH/CGR-t656 mutant were approximately 173.5% and 100.8%, respectively, of that of eLH/CGR-wt. These results provide evidence that the signal transduction of C-terminal phosphorylation in eLH/CGR plays a pivotal role in CHO-K1 cells. The cAMP level was recovered in PathHunter Parental cells expressing β-arrestin. We suggest that the signal transduction of the C-terminal region phosphorylation sites is remarkably different depending on the cells expressing β-arrestin in CHO-K1 cells.

Gonadotropin receptors, such as luteinizing hormone/ chorionic gonadotropin receptor (LH/CGR), belong to a large superfamily of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) characterized functionally by their interaction with guanine nucleotide-binding proteins and structurally by their seven transmembrane spanning domains, extracellular amino-terminus, and intracellular carboxy-terminus (Min et al., 1998;Byambaragchaa et al., 2021a).GPCRs exert their effects through G proteins, found at the cytoplasmic face of a cell's plasma membrane. G proteins are composed of three subunits: alpha (α), beta (β), and gamma (γ). The Gα subunit contains a highly conserved GTPase domain. The G protein β-and γ-subunits form a functional unit that can only be dissociated under denaturing conditions. Different combinations of these three subunits are important in governing the diverse signaling pathways regulated by GPCRs