Human CD34+ cell EST database: single-pass sequencing of 402 clones from a directional cDNA library.

A directional cDNA library was constructed from human CD34+ cells, and single-pass DNA sequence analysis was used to sequence 402 randomly picked cDNA clones. Sequence homology searches against the GenBank/EMBL databases revealed that 144 clones (35.8%) represented new genes, whereas 39 clones (9.7%) matched the partial sequences of cDNA clones (expressed sequence tags [ESTs]) from cDNA libraries from other tissues or cells. One hundred three (25.6%) of the clones were highly homologous or identical to genes of known function. 18.6% of the clones were ribosomal and 6 % were mitochondrial sequences. Seventeen (4.2%) of the clones were coding for Alu or L1 repetitive sequences. Our results suggest that random single-pass sequencing of cDNA clones provides a rapid way to obtain a profile of genes expressed in CD34+ cells and to identify new and potentially interesting genes.