Cloning of DNA complementary to ornithine aminotransferase mRNA

Free polysomes were isolated from the livers of rats maintained on a 60% casein diet to induce ornithine aminotransferase mRNA. Ornithine aminotransferase-synthesizing polysomes were immunoadsorbed using monospecific, affinity-purified antibody and Staphylococcus aureus cells. Poly(A+)RNA prepared from these polysomes by oligo(dT)-cellulose chromatography was used as a template for the synthesis of double-stranded cDNA by reverse transcriptase. Using the deoxyguanosine-5'-triphosphate-deoxycytidine-5'-triphosphate tailing method and pBR322 as a vector, recombinant molecules were produced and used to transform Escherichia coli. Two clones containing DNA complementary to ornithine aminotransferase mRNA were identified by colony hybridization and hybrid-arrest translation. A partial restriction endonuclease map of the ornithine aminotransferase cDNA inserts was constructed which spanned 1066 base pairs.