Japanese eel

Image source: AKIKO KUMAGAI & ATSUSHI MIYAWAKI as posted in Scientific American Dr. Miyawaki from the RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Wako, Japan and colleagues have identified the first example of a muscle protein in Japanese freshwater eels (Anguilla japonica) that fluoresces under special circumstances that may lead to improved medical testing (photo above).  The researchers have isolated the protein they named UnaG (after "unagi", the term for freshwater eel in Japanese). What is unique about this protein is that it fluoresces under low oxygen conditions and when it binds to…