title: Studying mechanosensitive ion channels using liposomes.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
authors.forename: Boris
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Martinac
authors.forename: Paul R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Rohde
authors.forename: Andrew R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Battle
authors.forename: Evgeny
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Petrov
authors.forename: Prithwish
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pal
authors.forename: Alexander Fook
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Foo
authors.forename: Valeria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Vásquez
authors.forename: Thuan
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Huynh
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kloda
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: 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