The overall goal of this research program concerns the biochemical endocrinology of thyrotropin (TSH). The immediate objectives are to determine a) the structure of the TSH receptor and b) which subunit(s) of the TSH interacts with the receptor. This will be attempted primarily by photoaffinity-labeling and immunoprecipitation of the receptor, employing radioactive photoactivable heterobifunctional reagents (cleavable or noncleavable), cleavable homobifunctional reagents and monoclonal anti TSH receptor antibodies as follows: 1. Preparation of various photoaffinity derivatives of bovine TSH. 2. Characterization of the derivatives. 3. Photoaffinity-labeling or crosslinking of the receptor. 4. Characterization of the labeled receptor. 5. Preparation of monoclonal anti TSH receptor antibodies. 6. Immunoprecipitation of the TSH receptor.
