Researchers detail one of the biggest proteins ever found

A bacterium living in the icy-cold waters of Antarctica manages to survive by gripping on to the ice surface. The protein used by the bacterium to do this—a kind of extendable anchor—has been detailed by a group of researchers from Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), Queen's University (Canada) and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel). Quite special, because at 600 nanometers, it is one of the biggest proteins for which the structure has ever been identified. Useful too, because knowledge about how bacteria attach themselves is helpful if you want to prevent this, for example, in pathogenic bacteria that grip on to human cells in a similar way.

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