The polymerase chain reaction, employing degenerate primers specific for the intramembrane domains III and VI of G-coupled receptors, was used to generate partial clones encoding those receptors carried by cultured rat aorta smooth muscle cells. One clone, spanning the intramembrane domains IV-VI of a receptor specific for endothelin-1 (ET-R[A]), was used as a probe to screen a human placental cDNA library. The clone pL4-3, encoding a selective type of human endothelin receptor (ET-R[A]), has an open reading frame encoding a protein 427 amino acids in length, with a relative molecular weight of 48,625 daltons. The sequence analysis suggests the presence of a signal peptide, two potential sites for glycosylation in the N terminal extracellular domain, the seven transmembrane domains typical of G-protein receptors, and several potential sites for phosphorylation in the C terminal cytoplasmic domain. At the amino acid level, the human ET-R(A) shows 91% and 94% identity with the rat and bovine ET-R(A)s, respectively, and 59% similarity with the human ET-R(B). Xenopus laevis oocytes injected with the cloned cDNA express binding sites specific for endothelin-1. Expression of the message in COS 7 cells gave a membrane-bound product to which binding of the [125I]-ET-1 was inhibited by peptide analogues specific for ET-R(A).