Comparisons of the amino acid sequences of three yeast RecA-like proteins, Rad51 and DMC1 from S.cerevisiae and Rad51 from S.pombe, revealed several highly conserved regions. Degenerated oligonucleotides encoding two of these regions were used for the polymerase chain reaction to clone a chicken RecA-like gene. The encoded protein shares 68% and 49% identical amino acids with the Rad51 and DMC1 proteins. The strong sequence conservation between the yeast and chicken genes indicates that RecA homologues are conserved throughout evolution from prokaryotes to higher eukaryotes. High expression of the chicken Rad51 gene was found within the organs of lymphoid and germ cell development suggesting its involvement in lymphoid and meiotic recombination.