
AQUAPORIN RESEARCH
The efficiency with which feed is used by meat and milk animals has increased enormously as a result of nutritional research, but in the future water may become a more limiting resource than feed.
This photomicrograph of lactating mammary tissue from a rat shows the presence (in brown) of aquaporins: membrane proteins that transport water. By understanding more about these important molecules we will be able to increase the efficiency with which water is used by dairy cows.