Mapping of the human gene for inducible heme oxygenase to chromosome 22q12

Heme oxygenase is an essential enzyme in heme catabolism that cleaves heme to form biliverdin, releasing carbon monoxide and iron. There are two isozymes of heme oxygenase: heme oxygenase 1 (HO-1) and heme oxygenase 2, each of which is encoded by a separate gene. It is noteworthy that HO-1 is inducible by various environmental factors, while heme oxygenase 2 is not. Here we have localized the human HO-1 gene to chromosome 22 by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis of human-hamster somatic cell hybrids. The precise region of the HO-1 locus was then determined by fluorescence in situ hybridization, revealing that the human HO-1 gene is localized to 22q12.