Journal Club | Cyanobacteria have (are) tiny little eyes

Cool new research shows that Synechocystis cells detect light much in the same way that human eyes do
Published in Microbiology
Journal Club | Cyanobacteria have (are) tiny little eyes
Like

Share this post

Choose a social network to share with, or copy the URL to share elsewhere

This is a representation of how your post may appear on social media. The actual post will vary between social networks

We knew that some bacteria, including the cyanobacterium Synechocystis, can detect and move towards light, which is important in its oceanic environment. However, rather than doing so by responding to a gradient in light intensity as many other organisms, Schuergers et al. report in eLife that Synechocystis cells act as spherical microlenses. When a light is shone at the cell, an image of the light source is focused at the opposite edge. Photoreceptors respond to the focused image of the light source, providing the cell with cues to move towards the light.

In essence, these tiny guys are light-loving, microscopic eyeballs!

Please sign in or register for FREE

If you are a registered user on Research Communities by Springer Nature, please sign in

Go to the profile of Michael Chao
over 8 years ago
Ok, that's officially super cool. I wonder if other cyanobacteria call them 'four eyes'.