L. Aravind

TL;DR: The evolutionary history of the ALOG domain represents a unique instance of a domain, otherwise exclusively found in retroelements, being recruited as a specific transcription factor in the streptophyte lineage of plants, adding to the growing evidence for derivation of DNA-binding domains of eukaryotic specific TFs from mobile and selfish elements.

TL;DR: CYSTM proteins are likely to be part of a novel cellular protective mechanism that is widely active in eukaryotes, including humans, and may have critical role in responding to deleterious compounds at the plasma membrane via chelation or redox-based mechanisms.

TL;DR: This work confidently predicts that more than 1,600 archaeal proteins, currently annotated as “hypothetical” in public databases, are components of conflict and self-versus-nonself discrimination systems.

TL;DR: The role of three structurally related proteins known or predicted to be involved in manganese transport in bacteria from the MntP, UPF0016, and TerC families are characterized and the first phenotypic and biochemical evidence for the role of Alx, a member of the TerC family, inManganese homeostasis is provided.

TL;DR: The puzzle of whether DNA methylation was reversible remained unclear for many decades until the discovery of the TET (Ten-Eleven Translocation) family of 5-methylcytosine oxidases, which use reduced iron, molecular oxygen and the tricarboxylic acid cycle metabolite 2-oxoglutarate to oxidise the methyl group of 5mC to 5-hydroxymethylcyTosine (5hmC) and beyond.