Science上一篇文章报道，一种简单的单细胞绿藻或可成为治疗失明的手段。这种叫作莱茵衣藻的绿藻只有一只原生“眼睛”，可以用来定位太阳光，从而帮助进行光合作用。但其眼内的一种叫作紫红质通道蛋白-2的感光细胞未来或可被植入人类视网膜，从而治疗失明。

    美国食品药品监督管理局(FDA)今年8月批准将该疗法应用于临床治疗。过去十年来，神经科学家曾利用蛋白质使神经元对光产生感应，从而帮助了解大脑，这种技术叫作光基因技术。现在，密歇根州一家公司Ann Arbor打算重塑视觉疗法，该公司招募了15名由于遗传性眼疾导致失明的患者进行临床试验，旨在了解紫红质通道蛋白-2是否同样适用于眼细胞。如果确实见效——尽管当前患者的视觉恢复效果尚不知晓，但是大鼠在接受同样治疗后已经可以辨别光源，科学家认为这一疗法前途光明。

    原文链接：Green algae could hold a cure for blindness

    原文摘要：A type of simple, single-celled green algae could be a cure for blindness, Wired reports. The algae, known asChlamydomonas reinhardtii, only has a primitive eye that it uses to locate sunlight to help with photosynthesis. But a light-sensitive protein called channelrhodopsin-2 found in its eyespot could one day be transplanted into humans’ retinas, thus returning sight to the blind. The Food and Drug Administration approved human clinical trials for such a procedure just last month. Over the last decade, neuroscientists have used the protein to make neurons react to light to help them study the brain, a technique known as optogenetics. Now, the Ann Arbor, Michigan–based company, RetroSense Therapeutics, has recruited 15 patients rendered blind by a genetic eye disease for its clinical trial to find out whether channelrhodopsin-2 will work in eye cells, too. If it does, the quality of vision the patients will have remains unknown, but mice that have had a similar treatment appear to see bars of light, which scientists say is promising.