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Mechanosensitive (MS) channels are found in a number of tissues and organisms and are thought to be the sensors for a number of systems including the senses of touch, hearing and balance, as well as participating in cardiovascular regulation and osmotic homeostasis (e.g. thirst). They are present in the membranes of organisms from the three domains of life: bacteria, archaea, and eukarya.[1]
The bacterial MS channels are the best studied, and provide a paradigm of how a protein senses membrane stretch. They are involved in osmotic homeostasis, serving as 'emergency release valves' protecting the cell from acute decreases in osmotic environment. There are two families of bacterial MS channels: Large-conductance mechanosensitive channel, MscL and small-conductance MS channels (MscS or YggB). The pressure threshold for MscS opening is 50% that of MscL.[2]
The MscS family is much larger and more variable in size and sequence than the MscL family. Much of the diversity in MscS proteins occurs in the size of the transmembrane regions, which ranges from three to eleven transmembrane helices, although the three C-terminal helices are conserved.
MscS folds as a homo-heptamer with a cylindrical shape, and can be divided into transmembrane and extramembrane regions: an N-terminal periplasmic region, a transmembrane region, and a C-terminal cytoplasmic region (middle and C-terminal domains). The transmembrane region forms a channel through the membrane that opens into a chamber enclosed by the extramembrane portion, the latter connecting to the cytoplasm through distinct portals.[2]
References
- ^ Pivetti CD, Yen MR, Miller S, et al (2003). "Two families of mechanosensitive channel proteins". Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. 67 (1): 66–85, table of contents. PMID 12626684.
- ^ a b Bass RB, Strop P, Barclay M, Rees DC (2002). "Crystal structure of Escherichia coli MscS, a voltage-modulated and mechanosensitive channel". Science 298 (5598): 1582–7. doi:. PMID 12446901.
External links
- Mechanosensitive ion channel family in Pfam
- UMich Orientation of Proteins in Membranes protein/pdbid-2oau
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 7 June 2008, at 09:01.
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