CLONING AND SEQUENCING OF HEAT-SHOCK FACTOR (HSF1) CDNA FROM HUMAN RETINA

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