Expression of the erythropoietin gene

Comparison of maps of the human and mouse erythropoietin (EPO) genes shows overall general conservation. A cloned mouse EPO gene was used to study EPO gene expression by the Northern blot method. Ten hours after bleeding to induce stress erythropoiesis in the rat, the only tissue to show detectable message was the kidney. Other preliminary studies on EPO expression in cells transformed by FMuLV that secrete EPO constitutively showed no detectable viral sequences close to the gene regardless of high levels of EPO expression. Further studies on regulation of EPO gene expression are now possible with the probes developed from the cloned gene.