title: Genetic approaches to mechanosensory transduction.
abstract: Genetic approaches in several organisms provide the means of solving a previously intractable problem: characterizing the molecular foundations of the mechanical senses. In nematode mechanosensory cells, members of a novel class of epithelial ion channel subunits have been implicated as components of a mechanically gated channel. In insect mechanosensory bristles, mutations specifically defective in mechanoreceptor potentials have been identified. And in bacteria, a stretch-activated channel has been molecularly characterized for the first time. Although mechanosensitivity can be a property of an isolated channel, sensory transduction in eukaryotic mechanosensory cells probably requires the interaction of several membrane and cytoskeletal components.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D008465:Mechanoreceptors / Q000502:physiology*; D008870:Microtubules / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000235:genetics*