The sequence of bovine parathyroid hormone mRNA has been determined by sequence analysis of near full-length cloned DNA complementary to the mRNA. Restriction fragments hybridized to the mRNA and extended toward the 5' terminus with reverse transcriptase were analyzed to derive the sequence not present in cDNA. The reverse transcripts were heterogeneous in length with three major stopping points within 8 nucleotides of each other and a minor stop about 30 bases further toward the 5' terminus of the mRNA. The sequence of the gene corresponding to the minor reverse transcript begins with the sequence 5' XXXATATATAAAA which contains the consensus sequence for a TATA box, a putative eukaryotic promoter sequence. Assuming that the major reverse transcriptase stop nearest the 5' terminus of the mRNA, which is 24 bases downstream from the TATA box, represents the beginning of bovine PTH mRNA, the mRNA contains 672 nucleotides, 100 in the 5' noncoding region, 348 in the coding region and 224 in the 3' noncoding region. Bovine PTH mRNA contains 38% G and C bases. The 3' noncoding region is particularly rich in A and U bases with the last 100 nucleotides of the molecules containing 46% U and 32% A. As with other mRNAs, the sequences CO and UAG occur much less than expected. The 5' noncoding region does not contain an AUG before the initiator codon and contains two potential regions that could base-pair with sequences near the 3' terminus of 18S ribosomal RNA. The sequence AAUAAA is present 14 nucleotides from the polyadenylic acid at the 3' terminus. Bovine PTH mRNA exhibits extensive homology with human PTH mRNA.
