Cloning and sequencing of rabbit leukocyte NADPH oxidase genes reveals a unique p67(phox) homolog.

The NADPH oxidase plays an important role in immune and nonimmune cell functions. Because rabbits represent an established model for studying a number of important disease processes that involve NADPH oxidase activity, we carried out studies to clone and sequence all five rabbit leukocyte NADPH oxidase genes. Comparison of the rabbit sequences with those of other species showed that, with the exception of p67(phox), the rabbit phox proteins were highly conserved.