Isolation and characterization of a cDNA clone encoding rat 5-lipoxygenase

A full-length cDNA clone encoding 5-lipoxygenase, a key enzyme in the formation of leukotrienes, was isolated from a rat basophilic leukemia cell lambda gt11 cDNA library. The 2.5-kilobase (kb) cDNA insert, whose identity was confirmed by hybrid-select translation and DNA sequence analysis, has a 2.0-kb open reading frame encoding a protein of Mr approximately 77,600 and includes 60 base pairs of 5'-untranslated region and 0.4 kb of 3'-untranslated region to the polyadenylation signal. The deduced amino acid sequence shows significant homology with published sequences for the rabbit reticulocyte lipoxygenase and soybean lipoxygenase-1; it also contains sequences similar to a consensus sequence found in several calcium-dependent membrane-binding proteins. The cDNA recognizes a 2.6-kb mRNA species which is detected in all tissues but is particularly abundant in RNA from lung.