CDNA cloning and expression of ferritin heavy chain 1, ferritin heavy chain 2 and hemoglobin genes from the fire-bellied frogBombina orientalis

Abstract

We cloned two Bombina orientalis ferritin heavy chains (ferritin heavy chains 1 and 2) and one hemoglobin beta-chain gene from a B. orientalis oviduct cDNA library, and the length of transcripts was 882, 858 and 611 bp encoding 177, 177 and 148 aa, respectively. B. orientalis ferritin heavy chain genes showed high similarity to those of amphibia (88-93%), mammals (70-71%), and fishes (70-72%), and the hemoglobin beta-chain gene showed moderate similarity to amphibian (65-68%) and mammalian (54-57%) hemoglobin beta-chain genes, respectively. Based on phylogenetic analysis, the genes were clustered to the same clade in amphibia. The two B. orientalis ferritin heavy chain genes showed different tissue-specific gene expression patterns. Thus, ferritin heavy chain 1 gene was highly expressed in intestine and oviduct but ferritin heavy chain 2 gene was ubiquitously expressed in most of the examined tissues. The hemoglobin beta-chain gene was more highly expressed in liver than in oviduct. These findings indicate that the genes may play different roles in different tissues. In this paper, we discuss the basic characteristics of B. orientalis ferritin heavy chain genes and hemoglobin beta-chain gene.