A putative homeodomain has been identified in eubacterial genomes. which include several pathogens. The domain is related in sequence to homeodomain, a component specific to transcription factors and playing a very important role in eukaryotes such as controlling the developmental processes of the organism, The putative homeodomain has been characterized utilizing the eukaryotic homeodomain protein Sequence signature present in PROSITE as well as the sequence similarity search using BLAST suite for different eubacterial genomes. These findings provide evidence for the occurrence of DNA-binding motif in prokarya similar to that in eukarya. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.