Researchers have discovered a gene for a tandem potassium channel in an algal virus, a DNA virus that infects marine algae and whose genome encodes that channel protein. An international team that includes researchers from the Department of Biology at TU Darmstadt and the Department of Natural Sciences at Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences reports the work in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Tandem potassium channels matter in human physiology because they conduct potassium ions across the cell membrane. That ion flow helps stabilize the membrane potential and regulate the electrical excitability of nerve cells. Structurally they differ from all other potassium channels: two of their four pore-forming subunits are directly linked to each other, and that tandem-like linkage is what gives them their name.
Unlike every other type of potassium channel, precursors of tandem potassium channels have not been found in bacteria, which has raised questions about their evolutionary origin. The algal-virus gene enters that debate with experimental grounding. Dr. Oliver Rauh told Phys.org that the team’s experiments show the gene encodes a protein with the functional properties of a potassium channel.
The finding supports the view that giant viruses may have contributed significantly to the evolution of complex proteins. Phys.org. Contrary to what is assumed for most viral genes, the newly discovered potassium channel gene did not end up in the viral genome by being stolen from the host’s genetic material. Clearer sequence ties to a host algal gene would undercut that viral-origin reading and return the tandem architecture to a capture story instead.
A positive test result can raise our assessment of the probability of a disease without settling the diagnosis. Two agreeing results can add less information than we expect. Bayesian reasoning shows how to weigh new evidence in diagnosis, in science, and in everyday news reading.
The percentages are shares of particles released at those hours, not the mix in the air people breathe, and the same campaign recorded a different mix in Delhi.
A positive test result can raise our assessment of the probability of a disease without settling the diagnosis. Two agreeing results can add less information than we expect. Bayesian reasoning shows how to weigh new evidence in diagnosis, in science, and in everyday news reading.
UN News reported the findings on 4 November 2026. UNCTAD says the war that shut the Strait of Hormuz in February pushed oil prices up everywhere, but the cost at the pump has been very uneven.
The figure amounts to some 240 million young people aged 11 to 17 who said they did not complete 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity on a single day.