Conservation of the C-type lectin fold for accommodating massive sequence variation in archaeal diversity-generating retroelements.
Handa, S., Paul, B.G., Miller, J.F., Valentine, D.L., Ghosh, P.(2016) BMC Struct Biol 16: 13-13
- PubMed: 27578274 
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12900-016-0064-6
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:  
5IOO - PubMed Abstract: 
Diversity-generating retroelements (DGRs) provide organisms with a unique means for adaptation to a dynamic environment through massive protein sequence variation. The potential scope of this variation exceeds that of the vertebrate adaptive immune system. DGRs were known to exist only in viruses and bacteria until their recent discovery in archaea belonging to the 'microbial dark matter', specifically in organisms closely related to Nanoarchaeota. However, Nanoarchaeota DGR variable proteins were unassignable to known protein folds and apparently unrelated to characterized DGR variable proteins.
Organizational Affiliation: 
Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA.