Distant structural homology leads to the functional characterization of an archaeal PIN domain as an exonuclease.

Genome sequencing projects have focused attention on the problem of discovering the functions of protein domains that are widely distributed throughout living species but which are, as yet, largely uncharacterized. One such example is the PIN domain, found in eukaryotes, bacteria, and Archaea, and with suggested roles in signaling, RNase editing, and/or nucleotide binding. The first reported crystal structure of a PIN domain (open reading frame PAE2754, derived from the crenarchaeon, Pyrobaculum aerophilum) has been determined to 2.