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I don't really understand what's the “problem” with high pressure for living things: they are full of water at the same pressure as the surrounding water so there's no risk to be crushed, so it's not clear to me what “resisting the high pressure” means.


It seems to be more about the different chemical properties of proteins under pressure, rather than structural problems that come with pressure difference. Just like e.g. water has a higher boiling point when pressurized, all kinds of chemical processes are different under pressure.


They talk about it in the article. The last figure shows what happens to the normal membrane at high pressures, it becomes too stiff/compressed and therefore cannot function (i.e. let things through etc)




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