Newly Discovered Protein named after Pikachu!

Newly Discovered Protein named after Pikachu!




Who doesn’t know Pikachu, the world’s most famous lightning-powered Pokemon? The chibi yellow pocket monster is so famous, that recently a newly discovered protein is named after him! The “Pikachurin”
protein plays a role in the efficient transmission of kinetic vision
information from the eyes to the brain, so the researchers named the
protein after the Pokémon character known
for its fast moves. The researchers expect that the discovery will help
advance the treatments for retinitis pigmentosa, a major hereditary
cause of blindness. Now if there is such a thing as a Pokemon periodic
table of elements, Pikachu would be #001 (science joke lol)

Source from http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/science/20080722TDY02306.htm

Saw this at other forum before , and it made me lol - ed indeed .

Production of high levels of heat shock proteins can also be triggered by exposure to different kinds of environmental stress conditions, such as infection, inflammation, exposure of the cell to toxins (ethanol, arsenic, trace metals and ultraviolet light, among many others), starvation, hypoxia (oxygen deprivation), nitrogen deficiency (in plants), or water deprivation. Consequently, the heat shock proteins are also referred to as stress proteins and their upregulation is sometimes described more generally as part of the stress response.

__________

Rugs|Rug