Accumulation of excess manganese in the brain induces Parkinsonian-like motor disease, whereas reduced manganese levels have been observed in association with Huntington's disease, the researchers explained. In humans, manganese is linked to neural development. For example, manganese is a key component of the photosynthetic process in plants - manganese is present at the site where water is converted to oxygen that is at the heart of photosynthesis.

Its function is to activate enzymes - molecules with vital jobs within living systems. Like iron, copper and zinc, manganese is an essential metal for plants and animals. She explained that the team was able to monitor the behavior of manganese within bacteria and are now working to engineer even tighter binding sensors to potentially study how the metal works in mammalian systems. 'We've used it - and seen the dynamics of how manganese comes and goes in a living system, which hasn't been possible before.' 'We believe that this is the first sensor that is selective enough for manganese for detailed studies of this metal in biological systems,' said Jennifer Park, a graduate student at Penn State and lead author on the paper. The team recently published their findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. It could also be potentially applied more generally for processes such as separation of the transition metal components (manganese, cobalt, and nickel) in lithium-ion battery recycling. The sensor could have broad applications in biotechnology to advance understanding of photosynthesis, host-pathogen interactions and neurobiology. They were able to genetically reprogram the protein to favor manganese over other common transition metals like iron and copper, which defies the trends observed with most transition metal-binding molecules.

The researchers engineered the sensor from a natural protein called lanmodulin, which binds rare earth elements with high selectivity and was discovered 5 years ago by some of the Penn State researchers involved in the present study.

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