mRNA cloning and expression studies of the quail homologue of HIF-2α

Hypoxia inducible factors (HIF) are candidate transcriptional regulators of vascular development. Unlike HIF-1 alpha - the founding member of the HIF family - which is expressed more or less ubiquitously, HLF-2 alpha (also called HRF, HLF and EPAS1) is highly expressed by vascular endothelial cells and was shown to activate the transcription of endothelial cell-specific receptor tyrosine kinases (tie-2 and flk-1/VEGF receptor 2) and of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). Therefore HIF-2 alpha: is a candidate dual regulator of vascular development. Here we describe the quail homologue of HIF-2 alpha. Sequence analysis reveals that HIF-2 alpha is highly conserved between birds and mammals. Like the murine HIF-2 alpha, the quail molecule is highly expressed by endothelial cells but also detectable in certain epithelial cells such as in the endoderm. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.