diff --git a/lisp/gnus/nnimap.el b/lisp/gnus/nnimap.el
index d797e893f51..8a88e0e6e64 100644
--- a/lisp/gnus/nnimap.el
+++ b/lisp/gnus/nnimap.el
@@ -1772,11 +1772,6 @@ If LIMIT, first try to limit the search to the N last articles."
   ;; read it.
   (subst-char-in-region (point-min) (point-max)
 			?\\ ?% t)
-  ;; Remove any MODSEQ entries in the buffer, because they may contain
-  ;; numbers that are too large for 32-bit Emacsen.
-  (while (re-search-forward " MODSEQ ([0-9]+)" nil t)
-    (replace-match "" t t))
-  (goto-char (point-min))
   (let (start end articles groups uidnext elems permanent-flags
 	      uidvalidity vanished highestmodseq)
     (dolist (elem sequences)
@@ -1803,8 +1798,9 @@ If LIMIT, first try to limit the search to the N last articles."
 		 (setq uidvalidity
 		       (and (re-search-forward "UIDVALIDITY \\([0-9]+\\)"
 					       end t)
-			    ;; Store UIDVALIDITY as a string, as it's
-			    ;; too big for 32-bit Emacsen, usually.
+			    ;; Store UIDVALIDITY as a string; before bignums,
+			    ;; it was usually too big for 32-bit Emacsen,
+			    ;; and we don't want to change the format now.
 			    (match-string 1)))
 		 (goto-char start)
 		 (setq vanished