We report the isolation and characterization of a chicken cDNA which putatively encodes an actin-like protein (chACTL). This 394-amino-acid (aa) polypeptide shares sequence homology (81, 70 and 67% identical aa, respectively) with three actin-related proteins (ARP) described for Drosophila melanogaster (ARP14D), Caenorhabditis elegans (ACTL) and Saccharomyces cerevisiae (ACT2). At least six chACTL transcripts were detected in different tissues during chick embryogenesis. Sequence analysis suggests that at least three groups of ARP have been evolutionarily conserved.