Some frogs have biliverdin concentrations so high that they exceed what would be associated, in humans, with severe illness or even death. Most animals are not green because the physiological effects of these pigments can be toxic. These frogs, however, need them, grow, and live with them. This is what motivated Carlos Taboada, a researcher in the Department of Biology at the University of California, Berkeley, to study them. Duke University (United States), to understand why and, above all, how. After several years of analysis of the genome of these anurans, taking the Boana punctata As a model, the group of researchers concluded that those responsible for this accumulation are serpins, a family of proteins characterized by being protease inhibitors, which bind to the pigment and adjust the color, as detailed in a study published this Monday in the journal PNAS.
