Random Isolation of Cadmium-induced Gene by Reverse Transcriptase PCR in Schizosaccharomyces pombe

The polymerase chain reaction was used to study the genes inducible under stress from the heavy metal cadmium. Schizosaccharomyces pombe, grown in the presence or absence of sublethal concentration of cadmium, was isolated to purify the total RNAs. The Induced RNA Random Fishing (IRRF) method in which random oligonucleotides were used as primers was applied to the identification of cadmium-induced gene expressions. A PCR-DNA product of 400-bp was cloned and sequenced. Computer analysis showed that this DNA has no homology with any known DNA sequences in GenBank or EMBL databases. The induction of this gene was confirmed by Northern blot analysis of total RNAs isolated from both cadmium-treated and untreated yeast cells.