Translin protein is highly conserved in eukaryotes. Human translin binds both ssDNA and RNA. Its nucleic acid binding site results from a combina-tion of basic regions in the octameric structure. We report here the first bio-chemical characterization of wild-typeDrosophila melanogaster(drosophila) translin and a chimeric translin, and present A ˚ resolution crystal struc-tures of drosophila P168S mutant translin from two crystal forms.