Zhang, J., Shao, S.-y., Li, L.-z., Liu, D. and Yang, X.-q. 2015. Molecular cloning and characterization of porcine interferon-induced protein with tetratricopeptide repeats (IFIT) 5. Can. J. Anim. Sci. 95: 551-556. Interferon-induced protein with tetratricopeptide repeats (IFIT) family members play important roles in host defense against viral infection. In the present study, the complete coding sequence (CDS) of porcine IFIT5 gene was cloned using molecular biology techniques, and the genomic structure was determined using the bioinformatic method. The porcine IFIT5 is located on chromosome 14 containing 2 exons. Quantitative real-time PCR revealed that the transcripts of IFIT5 gene were unevenly distributed in all tissues studied, including heart, bladder, liver, large intestine, spleen, small intestine, lung, kidney, stomach, muscle, and lymph. Only one synonymous single nucleotide polymorphism was found in the complete CDS except for the first five nucleotides. IFIT5 is induced by poly(I:C) in a dose- and time-dependent manner, as revealed by using dual-luciferase analysis and reverse transcription-quantitative PCR methods. Furthermore, ectopic expression of porcine IFIT5 had no effect on the activation of interferon regulatory factor 3 (IRF3) significantly (P>0.05), suggesting it might not be a regulator of IRF3 signaling pathway.