Left: Experimental strains were constructed by inserting GFP, myohemerythrin, or myoglobin at the HO locus in the yeast chromosome. Top right: Box and whisker plot of oxygen diffusion depth using the mitochondrial MitoLoc reporter in snowflake yeast clusters expressing oxygen-binding proteins or wild-type controls under oxygen limitation. Bottom right: Representative fluorescence micrographs of MitoLoc showing increased depth of oxygen penetration (white colocalization between GFP in cyan and RFP in magenta) in clusters expressing myoglobin (right) compared to a wild-type control (left) under low oxygen.
How did early #multicellular organisms exploit rising O2 levels? By expressing animal O2-binding proteins in snowflake yeast, @wcratcliff.bsky.social &co show that myoglobins & myohemerythrins circumvent anatomical limits to O2 diffusion in multicellular organisms 🧪 @plosbiology.org plos.io/3Ejt16N