Cloning and sequencing of heat shock factor (HSF1) cDNA from human retina

Transcription of heat shock genes takes place in response to the exposure of cells to elevated temperatures or other stress conditions. Heat shock transcription factor (HSF) plays an important role in the activation of such transcription. We report here the identification of human heat shock factor from human retina by RT-PCR and cloning studies. Human retinal poly A+ RNA was reverse transcribed and the cDNAs thus obtained were subjected to PCR using a set of primers designed from the reported cDNA sequence for human HSF1. The amplified product showed 100% sequence identity with the appropriate region of HSF1. A human retinal cDNA library was screened to isolate the full length cDNA for heat shock factor, which showed 100% sequence identity to that reported for human HSF1. Northern blot analysis showed the size of human retinal HSF to be approximately 2.4 kb.