Sensation is painless.
Emily Dickinson declared: 'After great pain, a formal feeling comes'. This formal feeling begins when sensory neurons are activated by noxious stimuli, such as stepping on a tack. Recently, Seymour Benzer's group identified sensory neurons in Drosophila larvae that mediate aversive responses to noxious heat and mechanical stimuli. Thresholds for behavioral and nerve responses are elevated by mutations in the painless gene, which encodes a TRP ion channel protein. Painless thus joins an elite group of TRPs implicated in sensory transduction in insects, nematodes, mammals and fish.
Goodman
Miriam B
MB
Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. mbgoodman@stanford.edu
D000818:Animals; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007473:Ion Channels / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000379:methods*; D012677:Sensation / Q000502:physiology*
D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D007473:Ion Channels; C474592:pain protein, Drosophila