Cloning and sequencing of heme oxygenase-1 gene from Ochotona curzo-niae

ABSTRACT] AIM: To clone and analyze the heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) gene from Ochotona curzoniae (plateau pika). METHODS: The cDNA of HO-1 was cloned by RT-PCR and rapid amplication of cDNA ends (RACE) from the liver of Ochotona curzoniae. The bioinformatic analysis of HO-1 gene was performed. RESULTS: The cDNA of HO-1 gene in Ochotona curzoniae was obtained. The data of the sequence was deposited into GenBank and the accession number is JX035934. The full length of cDNA was 1 466 bp, including 873 bp encoding sequence (290 amino acids). Homology comparison showed that the DNA sequence of the HO-1 gene was highly homologous with Oryctolagus cuniculus (89%), Homo sapiens (87%), Bos taurus (85%), Mus musculus (79%), Rattus norvegicus (84%), Sus scrofa (85%) and Equus caballus (85%), and the amino acid sequence of HO-1 was identified with the homology of 89%, 85%, 84%, 80%, 79%, 82% and 67%, respectively. Phylogenetic analysis suggested that the structure of HO-1 was highly similar to that in Oryctolagus cuniculus. CONCLUSION: The HO-1 gene of Ochotona curzoniae was successfully cloned and provides essential information for elucidating the possible roles of HO-1 in adapting of Ochotona curzoniae to extremely high altitude.