Identification and Isolation of Chicken Sucrase-Isomaltase cDNA Sequence

The intestinal sucrase-isomaltase (SI) complex is a glycoprotein of the small intestine brush border membrane that plays an important role in the final degradation of carbohydrate. To clone the chicken SI, we employed reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Agarose gel electrophoresis of the PCR products exhibited one amplified band of approximately 800 bp. The fragment was extracted from the gel and sequenced. The cDNA sequence of the chicken SI is 786 bp in length and exhibits 99% identity at the nucleotide level to the Homo sapiens SI mRNA. Using our cDNA as a probe, Northern analysis revealed a transcript of approximately 6.0 kb in chicken jejunum and ileum tissues.