Pressing and squeezing with Piezos

Abstract

Our molecular understanding of somatosensation has been hampered by the difficulty in identifying the sensor in mammals. In a real breakthrough for the field, two proteins—Piezo 1 and 2—have recently been identified as the elusive mechano-sensors!

Figure 1

Piezo topology and gating models. (A) Topological model of Piezo 1 that predicts 30 transmembrane span domains (adapted from a structural model calculated by TMHMM prediction and kindly provided by Bertrand Coste and Ardem Patapoutian, redrawn by G. Owsianik, Leuven, Belgium). Other models, such as the one obtained with Phobius prediction, indicate the presence of 39 transmembrane span domains. (B) Mechano-sensitive channel gating by sensing plasma membrane tension, without interaction with any cellular structures. (C) Channel gating by changes in the membrane curvature. (D) Channel gating by force interaction with a structural substrate, such as the cytoskeleton, to which the channel is tethered. (E) Piezo might also be a mechano-sensing subunit of a mechano-sensitive channel complex, rather than pore-forming subunit (the red arrow indicates a force).