This is the DYW domain found in nucleic acid deaminases prototyped by the plant PPR DYW proteins that are implicated in chloroplast and mitochondrial RNA transcript maturation by numerous C to U editing events [1,3,4]. The name derives from the DYW motif present at the C-terminus of the classical plant PPR DYW deaminases. Members containing this domain are present in bacteria, plants, Naegleria, and fungi [2]. Plants and Naegleria show lineage-specific expansions of this family. This domain contains a characteristic zinc-binding motif (CXXC, HXE) which has been shown to bind zinc ions. This domain is often fused to PPR repeats. Ascomycete versions, which are independent lateral transfers, contain a large insert within the domain and are often fused to ankyrin repeats. Bacterial versions are predicted to function as toxins in polymorphic toxin systems [2].

1: A hypothesis on the identification of the editing enzyme in plant organelles. Salone V, Rudinger M, Polsakiewicz M, Hoffmann B, Groth-Malonek M, Szurek B, Small I, Knoop V, Lurin C; FEBS Lett. 2007;581:4132-4138. PMID:17707818

2: Evolution of the deaminase fold and multiple origins of eukaryotic editing and mutagenic nucleic acid deaminases from bacterial toxin systems. Iyer LM, Zhang D, Rogozin IB, Aravind L; Nucleic Acids Res. 2011; [Epub ahead of print] PMID:21890906

3: Cytidine deaminase motifs within the DYW domain of two pentatricopeptide repeat-containing proteins are required for site-specific chloroplast RNA editing. Wagoner JA, Sun T, Lin L, Hanson MR; J Biol Chem. 2015;290:2957-2968. PMID:25512379

4: MEF10 is required for RNA editing at nad2-842 in mitochondria of Arabidopsis thaliana and interacts with MORF8. Hartel B, Zehrmann A, Verbitskiy D, van der Merwe JA, Brennicke A, Takenaka M; Plant Mol Biol. 2013;81:337-346. PMID:23288601