This bacterial adaptor domain of the Death-domain fold is involved in protein-protein interactions in biological conflict systems. bDLDs show a characteristic architectural pattern. One copy is always fused, typically to the N- or C-terminus, of a core component of a biological conflict system; examples include VMAP and iSTAND. Further copies of the same bDLD are fused to either effector or signal-transducing domains, or additional Effector-associated domains (EADs). bDLD pairs are frequently observed together on the genome in conserved gene neighborhoods, but can also be severed from such neighborhoods and located in distant regions, indicating the bDLD-bDLD coupling approximates the advantages of collinear transcription [1,2].

1: Highly regulated, diversifying NTP-dependent biological conflict systems with implications for the emergence of multicellularity. Kaur G, Burroughs AM, Iyer LM, Aravind L; Elife. 2020; [Epub ahead of print] PMID:32101166

2: Bacterial death and TRADD-N domains help define novel apoptosis and immunity mechanisms shared by prokaryotes and metazoans. Kaur G, Iyer LM, Burroughs AM, Aravind L; Elife. 2021; [Epub ahead of print] PMID:34061031