Shawn E. McGlynn

The paper models ancient metabolic networks to show purine synthesis was a bottleneck in metabolic evolution, requiring non-autocatalytic phosphoryl agents and leading to coenzyme emergence.

The paper investigates the evolutionary origins of β-trefoil proteins by identifying sequence and structural motifs in unrelated lineages, proposing a 'peptide budding' mechanism from an IgG-like β-sandwich.

This study compares Thermosynechococcus genomes to show genomic conservation across diverse environments, with few accessory genes and limited adaptive genetic differences.