Ice World Microbiology: Cryorhodopsins - Astrobiology

Some like it cold: cryorhodopsins

Summary Rhodopsins are a family of proteins that, like chlorophyll, allow organisms to absorb energy from sunlight. Some can be engineered to act as light-operated power switches for electrical activity in cells. In a new study, scientists have discovered a group of microbial rhodopsins found exclusively in cold environments, such as glaciers, and named them ‘cryorhodopsins’. Some cryorhodopsins are blue, which means they absorb red light – a …

Ice World Microbiology: Cryorhodopsins - Astrobiology

Imagine the magnificent glaciers of Greenland, the eternal snow of the Tibetan high mountains, and the permanently ice-cold groundwater in Finland. As cold and beautiful these are, for the structural biologist Kirill Kovalev, they are more importantly home to unusual molecules that could control brain cells’ activity. Kovalev, EIPOD Postdoctoral Fellow at EMBL Hamburg’s Schneider […] The post Ice World Microbiology: Cryorhodopsins appeared first…