From hopanoids to cholesterol: Molecular clocks of pentameric ligand-gated ion channels

What is it about?

Sterols are fats. Ancient bacteria have hopanoids, a kind of sterols which are often used by geologists to date the age of rocks. Later in evolution on planet Earth, cells acquired the ability to produce more sophisticated sterols, like cholesterol. In this work we hypothesize that about 4,000 millions years ago hopanoids interacted with bacterial proteins much like cholesterol does today with similar channel proteins, even in human brains...

Featured Image

Why is it important?

Our findings might explain why a successful interaction between channel proteins and lipids was acquired and maintained through millions of years.