Bernstein RM, Schluter SF, Bernstein H, Marchalonis JJ. Primordial emergence of the recombination activating gene 1 (RAG1): sequence of the complete shark gene indicates homology to microbial integrases.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 1996;
93:9454-9. [PMID:
8790351 PMCID:
PMC38449 DOI:
10.1073/pnas.93.18.9454]
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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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