Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 18, 2026

Profiling DNA Replication Timing Using Zebrafish as an In Vivo Model System
Published on: April 30, 2018
Analysis of recombination signal sequences in zebrafish
1Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. ndanilova@mit.edu
Abstract:
Recombination signal sequences (RSS) from immunoglobulin and TCRalpha genes of zebrafish were analyzed in comparison with RSS from human and species-specific features were revealed. In contrast to human RSS, in zebrafish RSS from both V(H) and TCRalpha genes the last nonamer position is not conserved. On the contrary, the fourth nonamer position, which is not conserved in human or mouse is conserved in zebrafish. The 12 bp spacers from human and zebrafish RSS contain 9 bp motif resembling nonamer sequence. Spacers in zebrafish 23 bp RSS from both immunoglobulins and TCRalpha contain 7 bp motif also resembling nonamer sequence while corresponding human sequences do not contain analogous motif. RSS are recognized by RAG1 protein, which also has specific features in teleost suggesting co-evolution of RAG1 with corresponding RSS.

