Objective: To investigate the status of the augmenter of liver regeneration (ALR) in rat's genome.
Methods: Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to amplify the genomic DNA of rat, with a set of specific primers designed according to the cDNA sequence of ALR. The products were ligated into pGEM Teasy vector. Two positive clones were sequenced separately.
Results: Two products were amplified from the rat's genome by PCR. After sequencing, one pseudogene was identified. The homology of the amino acid sequence between the ALR and its pseudogene was 88.8%.
Conclusions: ALR pseudogene is found in rat's genome, implying that there is an ALR multigene family. This finding lays a foundation for further study of ALR molecular evolution mode.