Identification of a chicken RAD52 homologue suggests conservation of the RAD52 recombination pathway throughout the evolution of higher eukaryotes.
Degenerate oligonucleotides encoding conserved regions of the Rad52 protein of S. cerevisiae and its homologue, the Rad22 protein of S. pombe, were used to clone a chicken RAD52 counterpart by the polymerase chain reaction. Sequence comparison of the chicken and yeast proteins reveals a strongly conserved region between positions 40 and 178 of the chicken Rad52 sequence indicating that this part of the protein is under strong evolutionary pressure. The first 39 amino acids and the 3' end of the chicken Rad52 homologue does not share significant similarity with the yeast proteins. High abundance of the mRNA in testis makes it likely that the chicken Rad52 protein plays a role in meiotic recombination.
Bezzubova
O Y
OY
Basel Institut of Immunology, Switzerland.
Schmidt
H
H
Ostermann
K
K
Heyer
W D
WD
Buerstedde
J M
JM
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D005075:Biological Evolution; D002645:Chickens; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D004247:DNA; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D051721:Rad52 DNA Repair and Recombination Protein; D011995:Recombination, Genetic; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000235:genetics*; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D005656:Fungal Proteins; C497197:RAD52 protein, S cerevisiae; D051721:Rad52 DNA Repair and Recombination Protein; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins; D004247:DNA