L. Aravind
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L. Aravind is a scientist at the National Center for Biotechnology Information, NIH, USA, who, together with Eugene Koonin, has been part of projects in computational evolution. [1]. In particular his group claims to have made advances in understanding the emergence of multicellularity, the evolution of DNA replication and repair, RNA metabolism and the natural history of P-loop ATPases, although many of these results are disputed.
These projects include:
- The discovery of the common origin of topoisomerases, DnaG-type primases, the OLD-type nucleases and the RecR family of DNA repair proteins.
- The recognition of the importance of the AT-hook as an important DNA-binding motif in chromosomal protein-DNA interactions
- Discovery of the Helix-Extension-Helix domain, which is involved in DNA- and RNA- protein interactions and involved in the tethering of chromosomes to the nuclear membrane.
- Formulation and proposal (along with E.V. Koonin) the theory of the two independent origins of DNA replication systems that are used by bacteria and the archaeo-eukaryotic lineage.
- Definition of the common origin of the archaeo-eukaryotic type DNA primases and the rolling circle replicator or RCR proteins, thus proposing a deep evolutionary link between the emergence of priming and topoisomerase like reactions in the evolution of DNA replication; identification of the replicative primases of poxviruses, iridoviruses and phycodnaviruses.
