Alignment of VASA protein sequences from human and major experimental organisms, including Mus musculus (Genbank accession no. 2500525), Rattus norvegicus (Genbank accession no. 2500526), Xenopus laevis (Genbank accession no. 2896107), Danio reio (Genbank accession no. 2558535), and Drosophila melanogaster (Genbank accession no. 1352826). Residues conserved in ≥ 50% of the sequences are highlighted in black. The eight conserved homology boxes present in all DEAD box proteins are indicated by I–VIII. * indicate the four copies of the RGG motif in the human protein; all VASA proteins contain multiple copies of this motif in their N termini. A bar overlies the region corresponding to the synthetic peptide used for antibody generation.