Poly(ADB-ribose) polymerase (PARP) is known to be activated by DNA strand breaks resulted from various cellular processes including DNA repair, replication and recombination. In the present study, the presence of PARP gene was investigated in insect and lower eukaryotes such as yeast and fungus. PCR was directed to genomic DNAs of an insect Tenebrio molitor and yeast S. pombe. By Southern hybridization analysis, the PCR products hybridized with flesh fly Sarcophaga peregrina PARP cDNA used as a probe. Genomic DNAs of T. molitor, ant C. japonicus and fungus A. nidulans also hybridized with Sarcophaga PARP probe. Interestingly, genomic DNA of S. pombe hybridized with a plant Arabidopsis PARP probe. Therefore, we screened genomic DNA library of S. pombe with Arabidopsis PARP DNA and positive hybridization signals were obtained in more than fifteen clones. The amino acid sequence of PARP gene from S. pombe showed lower similarity with other functional genes previously reported except the "FSCF" and "EKRMKL" amino acid sequence of DNA binding domain and automodification domain, respectively. From all these results, the presence of PARP gene in T. molitor and C. japonicus was demonstrated, and the possible existence of PARP gene in lower eukaryotes including S. pombe and A. nidulans was especially suggested in this study.