The Vasa gene is a member of the DEAD box family of RNA helicases in Drosophila melanogaster. Its human ortholog, Ddx4, is located on human chromosome 5q. It is syntenic to mouse chromosome 13, where the mouse vasa gene is located. The gene is conserved in many invertebrates and vertebrate species such as Caenorhabditis elegans, Xenopus, Zebrafish, flatworms, echinoderms, molluscs, nematodes, mice and rats as an important part of germ line maintenance and function. One of main function of Vasa protein is in germ cell determination and function. It uses ATP dependent RNA helicase catalytic activity to regulate the translation of multiple mRNAs. Vasa unwinds the duplex RNA by binding and bending short stretches of the duplex in a non-processive manner. The conserved domain may act as chaperones by unwinding RNA secondary structures and refolding properly. pre-mRNA splicing, ribosome biogenesis, nuclear export, translational regulation and degradation. Vasa was found to bind RNA in a sequence-specific manner. In the Drosophila embryos, Vasa binds the Uracil rich motif of the mei-P26 UTR. A mutation in Vasa reduced the interaction of between Mei-P26 and initiation factor elF58 which in turn significantly reduced translation of the gene. Recent evidence in invertebrates suggests that Vasa has a role in multipotent stem cells, but the exact function is unknown.