A Cu/Zn-superoxide dismutase (SOD) gene was characterized from Cordycepes militaris by gene cloning, heterogeneous expression and function analysis. This 154-aa SOD (CmSOD) was deduced from a 465-bp gene cloned, showing 72-95 % sequence identity to Cu/Zn-SODs from other fungi. The deduced amino acid sequence of the cDNA is highly similar to Beauveria bassiana (95 %), Isaria tenuipes (94 %) and Claviceps purpurea (88 %), respectively