Abstract: In order to study the structure and function of biliverdin reductase A(BLVRA)gene and its correlation with the character of green shell, the unknown sequences of 3′and 5′ ends of duck BLVRA mRNA were cloned by using RTPCR and 5′RACE methods and four pairs of primers were designed and synthesized according to the known coding sequence(CDS)of duck BLVRA gene in the current project. Gene expression levels of BLVRA were measured by real-time quantitative PCR, and the eggshell colors were determined by the reflection coefficient method. The results showed that the cDNA sequence of BLVRA was comprised of 1 071 nucleotides, encoding 302 amino acids and having the isoelectric point of 7.15 and the molecular weight of 34.3 ku. The 5′ and 3′ ends of the duck BLVRA gene sequence published in the GenBank were extended 238 and 199 bp, respectively. Comparing the putative amino acid of duck BLVRA gene with that of other animals showed that it shared 95.3%, 95.0%, 70.0%, 61.1%, 60.5% and 59.5% homology with Gallus gallus, Taeniopygia guttata, Xenopus tropicalis, Bos taurus, Homo sapiens and Mus musculus, respectively, which proved that BLVRA gene was conservative in the process of evolution. The relative gene expression level of BLVRA in white eggshells of Jinyun duck was 3 times higher than that in dark green eggshells after normalization with GAPDH gene(P< 0.01). There was a significant positive correlationship between reflection coefficient of eggshell and BLVRA gene relative expression levels(r=0.719，P<0.05). Together, the result suggested that BLVRA gene could be used as a candidate gene for molecule breeding of the green shell duck.