IDENTIFICATION AND ISOLATION OF CHICKEN SUCRASE-ISOMALTASE CDNA SEQUENCE

The intestinal sucrase-isomaltase (SI) complex is a glycoprotein of th e small intestine brush border membrane that plays an important role i n the final degradation of carbohydrate. To clone the chicken SI, we e mployed reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Agar ose gel electrophoresis of the PCR products exhibited one amplified ba nd of approximately 800 bp. The fragment was extracted from the gel an d sequenced. The cDNA sequence of the chicken SI is 786 bp in length a nd exhibits 99% identity at the nucleotide level to the Homdo sapiens SI mRNA. Using our cDNA as a probe, Northern analysis revealed a trans cript of approximately 6.0 kb in chicken jejunum and ileum tissues.