Under pressure: How a deep-sea protein adapts to an extreme environment
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 22-Oct-2026 15:16 ET (22-Oct-2026 19:16 GMT/UTC)
It was not fully understood how deep-sea microorganisms maintain their structure and function under high-pressure conditions. A research team from Kyushu University, conducted an experimental study focusing on PoXeR, a protein from a deep-sea bacterium. As increasing pressure was applied to the protein, the researchers found that it assembled itself into groups of three, called a trimeric structure to stabilize itself. This adaptive strategy revealed how deep-sea proteins remain stable under extreme pressure.
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