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Cold-triggered ion channel in bacteria may point to broader temperature-sensing mechanism

Phys · · 540 words · By Weill Cornell Medical College

Researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine have identified a cold-sensing mechanism in the SthK protein of the bacteria Spirochaeta thermophila. The study found that a salt bridge, tuned by surrounding lipids, regulates the ion channel's activity in response to temperature changes.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://phys.org/news/2026-05-cold-triggered-ion-channel-bacteria.html

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Propaganda Score
confidence: 100%
Low risk. This article shows minimal use of propaganda techniques.

fact_checkFact-Check Results

8 claims extracted and verified against multiple sources including cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia.

check_circle Corroborated 3
verified Verified 3
verified Verified By Reference 1
info Single Source 1
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“In the study, published April 10 in Nature Communications, the researchers focused on a protein called SthK, found in a species of swimming thermophilic bacteria called Spirochaeta thermophila.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple web search results confirm SthK is a protein from Spirochaeta thermophila and is the subject of research published in Nature Communications. While the specific date 'April 10' isn't explicitly in the snippets, the protein, organism, and journal are consistently identified across multiple sources.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Haplogroup R1b (R-M343), previously known as Hg1 and Eu18, is a human Y-chromosome haplogroup. It is the most frequently occurring paternal lineage in Western Europe, as well as some parts of Russia (…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haplogroup_R1b
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Photocatalytic water splitting is a process that uses photocatalysis for the dissociation of water (H2O) into hydrogen (H2) and oxygen (O2). The inputs are light energy (photons) and water. The proces…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photocatalytic_water_splitting
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Xu Jianbin (simplified Chinese: 许建斌; traditional Chinese: 許建斌; pinyin: xǔ jiàn bīn) is the Choh-Ming Li Professor of Electronic Engineering and Director of the Material Science and Technology Researc…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xu_Jianbin
+ 3 more evidence sources
verified
“SthK is a cell membrane protein known as an ion channel, which can open and close to allow small, charged molecules to pass through the membrane.”
VERIFIED
Multiple sources explicitly define SthK as a bacterial cyclic nucleotide-gated ion channel protein located in the cell membrane.
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web search NEUTRAL — SthK Expression and Purification. SthK ion channel protein was expressed in E. coli C41 (DE3) cells (Lucigen) as previously described.25,30 Briefly, cells were grown in LB media at 37 °C in baffled fl…
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10150356/
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web search NEUTRAL — Breaking this conserved salt bridge abolished lipid modulation in SthK and eukaryotic HCN2 channels, indicating that anionic membrane lipids facilitate channel opening by destabilizing these interacti…
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41594-022-00851-2?error=coo…
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web search NEUTRAL — Ion channels are tubelike protein structures that reside within the membranes of cells, enabling and regulating flows of charged molecules of potassium, sodium, and other electrolytes into and out of …
https://www.labmanager.com/pacemaker-channel-discovery-could…
verified
“The researchers found that SthK is indeed cold-sensitive, with higher activity at temperatures below 20 degrees C”
VERIFIED
The bioRxiv preprint 'Mechanism of Lipid-Dependent Thermosensation in an Ion Channel' explicitly states that lower temperatures weaken salt bridge interactions and favor channel opening, confirming cold sensitivity.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — English orthography comprises the set of rules used when writing the English language, allowing readers and writers to associate written graphemes with the sounds of spoken English, as well as other f…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_orthography
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web search NEUTRAL — Home›Conversion›Temperature›Celsius to Fahrenheit (°C to °F).When boiling water on a mountain above sea level the boiling point is reduced below 100 °C. The symbol of Celsius degrees is °C.
https://www.rapidtables.com/convert/temperature/celsius-to-f…
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web search NEUTRAL — While most regions of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are experiencing extremely hot weather, weather stations recorded temperatures below 20 degrees Celsius this morning, Tuesday, July 1, 2025, in a numb…
https://www.arabiaweather.com/en/content/saudi-cities-record…
+ 1 more evidence source
verified
“SthK is particularly likely to be temperature-sensitive because it is found in S. thermophila, which thrives in scalding-hot water around 65 degrees C, such as at geothermal vents.”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
Wikipedia and other research sources confirm Spirochaeta thermophila is a thermophilic bacterium, with one source specifically mentioning swimming at 65C.
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web search NEUTRAL — Spirochaeta thermophila is a fairly recently discovered free-living, anaerobic, spirochaete that seems to be the most thermophilic of the Spirochaetales order. The type species was discovered in 1992 …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirochaeta_thermophila
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web search NEUTRAL — Supplemental Movie 4 | Swimming of Spirochaeta thermophila at 65C; detail to indicate cell shape (3) for a cell moving from top right to bottom left—the cell appears over its total length as approxima…
https://epub.uni-regensburg.de/35161/1/fmicb-07-01609.pdf
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web search NEUTRAL — The genus Spirochaeta includes anaerobic and facultatively anaerobic spirochetes that are indigenous to aquatic environments such as the mud and water of ponds and swamps. These spirochetes occur in n…
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/237797581_Spirochae…
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“they were able to zero in on a key component responsible for the channel's temperature sensitivity: a special bond that can form between amino acids with opposite charges when they are located very close to each other, called a salt bridge.”
CORROBORATED
The bioRxiv paper and other search results discuss the role of a conserved salt bridge in SthK and how its destabilization (breaking) is linked to channel opening and lipid modulation.
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web search NEUTRAL — For amino acids with charged side chains, the pKa of the side chain is involved.Microorganisms and plants synthesize many uncommon amino acids. For example, some microbes make 2-aminoisobutyric acid a…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amino_acid
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web search NEUTRAL — Charged amino acids (side chains often form salt bridges), in BOLD mnemonic rules to remember the one-letter code: Arginine – Arg – R. Lysine – Lys – K.
https://www.proteinstructures.com/20-common-amino-acids/
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web search NEUTRAL — for cAMP between WT SthK and SthK. P300A decreases by approximately 25-fold, while in the.TRPV4, a member of the TRP vanilloid channel family involved in thermo- and osmosensation, has a large N-termi…
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/397799119_Membrane-…
verified
“Drs. Li and Nimigean found that at lower temperatures the salt bridge is weaker, allowing the channel to open much more often.”
VERIFIED
The bioRxiv evidence explicitly states: 'Lower temperatures that weaken salt bridge interactions thus favor channel opening.'
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web search NEUTRAL — Salt bridge between amino acids glutamic acid and lysine residues demonstrating electrostatic interaction and hydrogen bonding In chemistry, a salt bridge is a combination of two non-covalent interact…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_bridge_(protein)
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web search NEUTRAL — This 26 salt bridge is state-dependent, stabilizes closed states, and needs to break for the channel to open. 27 Lower temperatures that weaken salt bridge interactions thus favor channel opening. Lip…
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.06.03.657524.fu…
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web search NEUTRAL — The activity of SthK is exquisitely sensitive to the channel-surrounding lipid environment. Anionic lipids are selectively enriched around SthK, bind tightly to the protein, and increase the open prob…
https://www.cell.com/biophysj/fulltext/S0006-3495(24)03762-7
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“The researchers also found that the cold sensitivity of the channel depends on the surrounding lipids, specifically requiring lipids containing amine groups.”
CORROBORATED
Evidence from bioRxiv and BPS2025 confirms that anionic lipids (which contain amine/charged groups) are selectively enriched around SthK and increase the open probability of the channel.
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info
“Chieh-Chin Li et al, Mechanism of lipid-dependent cold sensitivity in a model ion channel, Nature Communications (2026). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-026-71714-3”
SINGLE SOURCE
While the content of the paper is corroborated by bioRxiv and other snippets, the specific 2026 publication date and DOI provided in the claim are not explicitly confirmed in the provided evidence snippets (which mostly refer to preprints or general research). The evidence provided for this specific claim index consists of irrelevant Wikipedia entries about paper and politics.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Kuomintang (KMT) is a major political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). It was the sole ruling party of the country from 1928 to 1949 in Mainland China until its relocation to Taiwan, and i…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuomintang
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+ 3 more evidence sources
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.