title: Cloning and sequencing of the ovine gamma-interferon gene.
abstract: Cytokines are major modulators of the immune system of all animals. The cloning and expression of recombinant cytokine genes have permitted the analysis of their immune function and role in the control of the immune response to disease and vaccination. While human, murine, and bovine genes have been cloned and sequenced, the cloning of ovine cytokine genes has not yet been reported. As sheep are of dominant economic importance to the Australian farming industry, it is of significance to clone and express these genes to facilitate the development of new and better vaccines and pharmaceuticals. We have initially selected ovine gamma-interferon (gamma-IFN) as a target cytokine gene. By the use of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), using primers based on the bovine gamma-interferon sequence, we have amplified the ovine gamma-interferon gene from crude messenger RNA extracted from lymphocytes. After cloning and DNA sequencing the gene, we found that ovine gamma-IFN is 93% identical to bovine gamma-IFN in amino acid sequence. This result indicates that the PCR method will be a rapid and efficient means for cloning other ovine cytokine genes.
authors.affiliation: CSIRO Division of Animal Health, Animal Health Research Laboratory, Parkville, Victoria.
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Radford
authors.forename: A L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Hodgson
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Rothel
authors.forename: P R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Wood
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D012756:Sheep / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D007371:Interferon-gamma; D004247:DNA