A cDNA clone of eel liver glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) from an eel li
ver cDNA library was obtained by using the cDNA of human liver GDH as
a probe for screening. The amino acid sequence deduced from the nucleo
tide sequence of the obtained cDNA consisted of 463 amino acids and co
ntained the C-terminal, but did not contain the N-terminal. The sequen
ce corresponds to that from the 43rd to 505th position from the N-term
inal of human liver GDH and the homology between eel and human was 89%
. The sequence around essential Lys for enzyme activity, which corresp
onds to the sequence from Va1103 to Pro137 of human liver GDH, is iden
tical between liver GDHs from eel, tuna, human, bovine, rat, and chick
en. Eel GDH has six Cys residues and their positions are conserved in
all the liver GDHs described above. Considering the 39 amino acid sequ
ence from the N-terminal, which was determined from the purified enzym
e previously, the predicted complete primary structure of eel liver GD
H was described.