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. 1996 Sep 3;93(18):9454–9459. doi: 10.1073/pnas.93.18.9454

Primordial emergence of the recombination activating gene 1 (RAG1): sequence of the complete shark gene indicates homology to microbial integrases.

R M Bernstein 1, S F Schluter 1, H Bernstein 1, J J Marchalonis 1
PMCID: PMC38449  PMID: 8790351

Abstract

The rearrangement of antibody and T-cell receptor gene segments is indispensable to the vertebrate immune response. All extant jawed vertebrates can rearrange these gene segments. This ability is conferred by the recombination activating genes I and II (RAG I and RAG II). To elucidate their origin and function, the cDNA encoding RAG I from a member of the most ancient class of extant gnathostomes, the Carcharhine sharks, was characterized. Homology domains identified within shark RAG I prompted sequence comparison analyses that suggested similarity of the RAG I and II genes, respectively, to the integrase family genes and integration host factor genes of the bacterial site-specific recombination system. Thus, the apparent explosive evolution (or "big bang") of the ancestral immune system may have been initiated by a transfer of microbial site-specific recombinases.

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