These proteins carry out photosynthesis in a different way than land plants * It is possible that this can help with the food problem * This is what EMBO Journal reports in its upcoming issue
The Technion researchers discovered proteins in the Gulf of Eilat that "absorb" light at different wavelengths. To their surprise, the findings matched the computer prediction they had made earlier in the lab. They came to the discovery jointly with a group of American researchers and it will soon be published in the prestigious EMBO Journal.
The researcher, Dr. Oded Beja from the Faculty of Biology, discovered in bacteria about three years ago a protein called proteorhodopsin capable of "harvesting" light and turning it into chemical energy. His discoveries were published at the time
In "Science" and "Nature". He found that some of these proteins absorb light in green wavelengths (near the surface), and others - in blue light (in the depths of the sea). Now he and his team at the Technion have found a mechanism in the protein that allows very similar proteins to absorb light in wavelengths various.
About eight months ago, Dikla Man, a graduate student from the Faculty of Biology, made a computer prediction in the laboratory for the proteorodopsin proteins, and with the help of genetic engineering showed that a slight change in the protein causes the absorption of light at different wavelengths. Doctoral student Jazala Sabihi has now examined proteins from the Mediterranean Sea and the Gulf of Eilat. This is the first time that research on the proteorodopsin protein has been conducted in Middle Eastern waters. To everyone's surprise, a new family of these proteins was found in the Gulf of Eilat, at a depth of 150 meters, using the same mechanism. "If you look at their structure," explains Dr. Beja, "they are supposed to absorb green light, but in fact they absorb light of different wavelengths. Jazala found Dekla's prediction in the laboratory in nature, in the depths of the sea of Eilat.
The researcher emphasizes that the study of the sea is gaining more and more momentum, as it has far-reaching consequences both for basic knowledge and for human food and health.
