Studying mechanosensitive ion channels using liposomes.
Mechanosensitive (MS) ion channels are the primary molecular transducers of mechanical force into electrical and/or chemical intracellular signals in living cells. They have been implicated in innumerable mechanosensory physiological processes including touch and pain sensation, hearing, blood pressure control, micturition, cell volume regulation, tissue growth, or cellular turgor control. Much of what we know about the basic physical principles underlying the conversion of mechanical force acting upon membranes of living cells into conformational changes of MS channels comes from studies of MS channels reconstituted into artificial liposomes. Using bacterial MS channels as a model, we have shown by reconstituting these channels into liposomes that there is a close relationship between the physico-chemical properties of the lipid bilayer and structural dynamics bringing about the function of these channels.
Martinac
Boris
B
The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
Rohde
Paul R
PR
Battle
Andrew R
AR
Petrov
Evgeny
E
Pal
Prithwish
P
Foo
Alexander Fook
AF
Vásquez
Valeria
V
Huynh
Thuan
T
Kloda
Anna
A
D000818:Animals; D016466:CHO Cells; D006224:Cricetinae; D003412:Cricetulus; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000378:metabolism*; D015870:Gene Expression; D007473:Ion Channels / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000378:metabolism*; D008081:Liposomes / Q000737:chemistry*; D040542:Mechanotransduction, Cellular; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal; D018408:Patch-Clamp Techniques; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification
D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D007473:Ion Channels; D008081:Liposomes; C086596:MscL protein, E coli; C469542:MscS protein, E coli; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate