Perivenous expression of the mRNA of the three hypoxia-inducible factor α-subunits, HIF1α, HIF2α and HIF3α, in rat liver

The cDNAs of three hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) α-subunits were cloned from RNA of primary rat hepatocytes by reverse transcriptase PCR. All three cDNAs encoded functionally active proteins, of 825, 874 and 662 amino acids. After transfection they were able to activate luciferase activity of a luciferase gene construct containing three HIF-responsive elements. The mRNAs of the rat HIF α-subunits were expressed predominantly in the perivenous zone of rat liver tissue; the nuclear HIFα proteins, however, did not appear to be zonated. The sequence data reported here have been deposited in the EMBL Nucleotide Sequence Database under the following accession numbers: rHIF1α, Y09507; rHIF2α, AJ277828; rHIF3α, AJ277827.