Inhibin, a gonadal protein that preferentially suppresses the secretion of pituitary follicle-stimulating hormone, has been isolated from porcine follicular fluid and characterized as a 32-kDa protein composed of 18-kDa and 14-kDa subunits. In the present work, oligonucleotide probes predicted from amino-terminal inhibin amino acid sequences have been used to isolate, from a porcine ovarian Xgtll cDNA library, clones encoding the 18-kDa subunit, or A chain, of inhibin. DNA sequence analysis showed that the inhibin A chain is initially synthesized as a larger precursor protein and is predicted to be a glycopeptide. Inhibin A-chain mRNA is present specifically in the gonads, and its synthesis can be induced by treatment of the animal with gonadotropins. The porcine probe was used to isolate a human inhibin A-subunit cDNA from a placental cDNA library. The human precursor is highly homologous to its porcine counterpart and is predicted to generate an 18-kDa glycosylated inhibin A subunit.The biological basis for gonadal regulation of pituitary function was formulated in 1923 by Mottram and Cramer (1), who observed hypertrophy of rat pituitary cells following radiation-induced testicular damage. In 1932 McCullaugh (2) demonstrated that the appearance of these hypertrophied cells could be inhibited by the injection of a water-soluble substance derived from bovine testes, and he termed this substance inhibin. Following the discovery of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH), the two pituitary hormones known to regulate the development and activity of the gonads, Klinefelter et al. (3) postulated that a testicular factor, inhibin, exerted a specific negative feedback action on pituitary FSH secretion. This hypothesis was substantiated when numerous investigators demonstrated a direct suppression of peripheral FSH in animals treated with steroid-free testicular or ovarian preparations (4-6).