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Abstract
The origin of germ cells and the molecular mechanisms of primordial germ cell (PGC) determination in teleosts are unclear. Vasa is a member of the DEAD protein family and plays an indespensable role in germ cell determination in Drosophila melanogaster and in Xenopus leavis. In this study i isolated and characterizated a Sparus aurata Vasa cDNA as first step towards underastanding the molecular mechanism of PGC determination and development and to develop a molecular marker to identify the PGC in Sparus aurata.I found a partial DNA sequence of vasa-gene that have 82% of identity with vasa-geneof Oncorhinchus mykiss.The predicted amino acid sequence of this DNA contained 5 sequence consensus for the DEAD protein family included the motif ATP-A (AXXXXGKT) e il motif ATP-B (DEAD). The consensus sequence, PTRELA was change in PTRELI. The same substitution was observed in Xenopus vasa-like gene and in Oncorhinchus mykissvasa-like gene