Voltage-gated sodium channel serves as an excellent target site of many insecticidal compounds including DDT and pyrethroid insecticides. TipE, originally isolated from a Drosophila mutant temperature induced paralysis E, is a putative sodium channel subunit that is necessary for the functional expression of the pore forming alpha-subunit in the Xenopus oocyte.  We have obtained the tipE orthologous gene in the Heliothis virescens by using PCR cloning approach. Degenerate PCR was followed by 5' and 3' RACE (rapid amplification of cDNA end). The htipE contains a 960 bp open reading frame encoding 320 amino acid residues revealing 47% identity and 60% similarity to the Drosophila TipE protein.  Predicted secondary structure contains two transmembrane segments that are well conserved among the tipE sequences in different insects. The htipE clone is being prepared in expression vectors for functional co-expression with the Heliothis sodium channel alpha-subunit hscp.