The lactate dehydrogenase gene from nematode Caenorhabditis elegans contains only two of six introns conserved in the protein-encoding sequence of LDH genes from bird and mammals

Abstract

The protein-encoding region of L-lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) gene from nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans, was amplified by polymerase-chain-reaction from total genomic DNA and its nucleotide sequence determined. A comparison of this genomic sequence with the published sequence of nematode LDH cDNA reveals the presence of two introns of 57 and 47 nucleotides at codon no. 82 and 279-280, respectively. The positions of the two introns present in this invertebrate LDH gene correspond to the second and sixth introns of vertebrate LDH genes. The protein-coding sequence of human LDH-A (muscle), LDH-B (heart) and LDH-C (testis), mouse LDH-A, and duck LDH-B genes has previously been shown to be interrupted by six introns at the homologous positions.