Objective To screen and identify the novel genes from the adult worm cDNA library of Schistosoma japonicum by the expressed sequence tags (EST) strategy.Methods The cDNA clones were selected randomly and the ESTs were obtained.The novel gene was searched for homologue identity with NCBI blast programmer.The homologue of the two sequences with a high identity was compared at amino acid and nucleotide level with the BLAST programmer,and the analysis of protein was carried out with the pcgene software. Results There was a novel gene of Schistosoma japonicum which included 1 677 bp coding for 424 amino acid residues, and it was given the accession number of sequence in Genbank(AY336497).The cDNA sequence was homologous to the known ornithine aminotransferase gene of Xenopus laevis. The identity of amino acid sequence was 66%. The academic pI was 8.52, and the antigen determinant was probably from 795 to 846 on the cDNA sequence. Conclusion EST strategy is an effective measure to discover new genes of Schistosoma japonicum. The novel gene is homologous to the ornithine aminotransferase gene of Xenopus laevis.This study is helpful to further sequential and functional search of the gene.[