Use of a conserved consensus oligomer in the identification of cytochrome P-450 mRNAs

A region of high nucleic acid conservation present in many members of the phenobarbital (PB) family of cytochromes P-450 (P-450s) was targeted for the construction of an 18 base, eight-fold degenerate, consensus oligomer (the PB-mer). When utilized to screen a rabbit liver cDNA library, the PB-mer enabled the isolation of P-450 cDNAs. One isolate, designated pP-450 1a, was characterized by nucleotide sequence, as well as Northern and Southern blot analyses and was demonstrated to be a novel form. Primary nucleotide sequence indicates that this cDNA is highly homologous to several P-450 cDNAs, but only in the protein coding region. The 3'-noncoding segment of P-450 1a is longer and diverges markedly from known P-450 cDNAs in the rabbit PB family.