Molecular Analysis of the Rat Inducible Nitric Oxide Synthase Genes

Abstract

Multiple forms of Nos2genes were identified in the rat. One Nos2gene contained a three base deletion in exon 25 and was not expressed in the kidney. The other Nos2genes did not possess the deletion and were expressed in the kidney. The 5′ regulatory region of 2,157 nucleotides for the Nos2gene was cloned from the Dahl salt-resistant rat and sequenced. It contained a series of simple sequence repeats which were polymorphic among eight rat strains tested. The polymorphic feature makes the Nos2gene a useful chromosome marker

Key Words:

• inducible nitric oxide synthase
• gene duplication
• regulatory region
• simple-sequence repeats