Molecular cloning of cDNAs encoding hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1 alphaand-2 alpha of bovine arterial endothelial cells

Hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-l alpha and -2 alpha are two basic helix-loo p-helix/PAS domain transcriptional factors that mediate hypoxia-induced gen e expression. We found that bovine arterial endothelial cells (BAEC) expres sed both HIF-1 alpha and -2 alpha by RT-PCR and then isolated cDNAs encodin g these two transcriptional factors of BAEC. The deduced amino acid sequenc es of both HIF-1 alpha and -2 alpha showed high homologies among mammalian species. Northern blot analysis indicated that the mRNAs for HIF-1 alpha an d -2 alpha from BAEC showed a size of approx. 5.5 and 6.2 kilobases, respec tively and that both mRNAs were constitutively expressed and not induced by hypoxia in BAEC. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.