Cute molecules and the scientists who adore them: Yehudi Bloch
Yehudi Bloch, ARISE Fellow at EMBL Hamburg, talks about the snow flea antifreeze protein
Yehudi Bloch from EMBL Hamburg is especially amused by the snow flea antifreeze protein (PDB 2PNE), which allows snow fleas to survive in sub-zero temperatures. The protein is quite flat, like a snowboard. Credit: Isabel Romero Calvo (illustration), Dorota Badowska (photography)/EMBL
Behind every discovery lies a story. Often this story is of a scientist and their passion and awe for nature’s design.
We’ve asked some of our scientists, from across EMBL sites, to talk about the molecules that capture their imaginations and make them smile. These stories reveal the surprising beauty, humour, and charm in the molecular structures that power life itself. We invite you to explore them and fall in love with the molecules, like these scientists have.
“I came across the snow flea antifreeze protein in the Protein Data Bank, and I was immediately struck by its quirkiness.
“This protein allows snow fleas to survive in sub-zero temperatures. Despite looking like wobbly spaghetti, the protein is actually highly structured, which enables it to limit the growth of ice crystals in the snow flea’s cells.
“I like that the protein comes from such an obscure animal. I think it’s important to study life and get inspired by nature beyond the standard model organisms.
“The snow flea antifreeze protein is also one of the very few proteins that have had their mirror twins, called D-enantiomers, synthesised in the lab. The symmetry between proteins and their mirror twins enables them to more readily arrange themselves into precise, repetitive patterns, which become crystals as they grow. As a crystallographer, I use protein crystals to study the molecular structure of proteins, so I find it really neat that using a protein together with its mirror twin can simplify obtaining crystals and perhaps enable crystallising otherwise uncrystallisable proteins.”
