MicrobeWorld

Scientists from the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research (FMI)say they have restored vision in retinitis pigmentosa using an archaebacterial protein, halorhodopsin. Introducing light-sensitive halorhodopsin into the remaining but nonfunctional cone photoreceptors of the retina of mice not only reactivates the cone cells’ ability to interact with the rest of the visual system, it also prompts visually guided behavior.