The cloning and expression of an apical membrane water channel from rat kidney collecting duct (WCH-CD) homologous to a 28-kDa integral membrane protein (CHIP28) was reported recently (K. Fushimi, S. Uchida, Y. Hara, Y. Hirata, F. Marumo, and S. Sasaki. Nature Lond. 361: 549-552, 1993). We obtained an approximately 1.8-kilobase clone from a rat kidney lambda gt10 cDNA library by a polymerase chain reaction cloning method; whereas the coding sequence (814 base pairs, predicted protein size 29 kDa) was identical to that reported, we identified an in-frame ATG codon at base pair -123 predicting a protein size of 33 kDa. On Northern blots probed by cDNAs corresponding to the WCH-CD coding sequence (base pairs +1 to +814) or 5'-untranslated sequence (-403 to -16), a single band at 1.9 kilobases was observed in kidney medulla greater than in cortex but not in other tissues; mRNA expression was increased strongly by dehydration. Translation and oocyte expression studies were performed to identify the translation start site. The short (base pairs +1 to +814) and long (base pairs -123 to +814) cDNAs were subcloned in vector pSP64 containing the 5'-untranslated Xenopus globin sequence upstream to the ATGs; a 30-base pair c-myc sequence was engineered at the COOH- terminal for antibody recognition.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)