Abstract: Objective To study the mechanism of pterygium and find the related genes. Methods The cDNA library of pterygium was built by SMART technology, from which 800 clones were selected at random, sequenced and analyzed. Results The storage capacity of the cDNA library was 1.2×106, the recombination frequency was 94%, with an average fragment size around 1 kb. 663 unigenes were obtained after editing and trimming the vector and ambiguous sequences, including 549 singlets and 114 contigs. After BLAST analysis of these sequences, 85 ESTs(12.82%) had no comparable sequences in databases, 578 ESTs(87.18%) had homology with some genes in the GenBank. 578 ESTs were classified according to the Gene Ontology (GO) and classification standard of gene expression profile of human tissue. The results showed that genes were involved in transcription and translation system with the highest abundance of ESTs (41%). Additionally, some putative genes related to formation of pterygium were found. Conclusions The cDNA library was established for the first time at home, which may provide a reference value for the analysis of pathologic mechanism of pterygium.

Key words: Pterygium, cDNA library, Sequence analysis