TSRI-Led Team Finds Long-Sought Protein Sensor for the ‘Sixth Sense’—Proprioception
For decades, biologists have been trying to find the crucial sensor protein in nerve endings that translates muscle and tendon stretching into proprioceptive nerve signals. Now in a study published in Nature Neuroscience on November 9, 2015, a team led by scientists from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) has identified this sensor protein in mice.
It turns out to be a protein called Piezo2, which was found recently to mediate the sense of touch.
Seung-Hyun Woo, Viktor Lukacs, Joriene C de Nooij, Dasha Zaytseva, Connor R Criddle, Allain Francisco, Thomas M Jessell, Katherine A Wilkinson, Ardem Patapoutian. Piezo2 is the principal mechanotransduction channel for proprioception. Nature Neuroscience, 2015; DOI: 10.1038/nn.4162