Selenocysteine in Lokiarchaeota

Lokiarchaeota is a lineage of archaea related to early eukaryotes. This artwork represents the discovery of selenoproteins in Lokiarchaeota and their evolution from prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Selenoprotein presence is depicted in red/yellow colors.

Illustration by Tabitha Learn. Concept by Marco Mariotti.

Research paper: Mariotti et al., 2016, Mol Biol Evol, 33:2441-53.