Chalfie Martin
Columbia University, Department of Biological Sciences, 1012 Fairchild Center, M.C. 2446, New York, New York 10027, USA.
Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol. 2009 Jan;10(1):44-52. doi: 10.1038/nrm2595.
Neurons that sense touch, sound and acceleration respond rapidly to specific mechanical signals. The proteins that transduce these signals and underlie these senses, however, are mostly unknown. Research over the past decade has suggested that members of three families of channel proteins are candidate transduction molecules. Current studies are directed towards characterizing these candidates, determining how they are mechanically gated and discovering new molecules that are involved in mechanical sensing.
感知触觉、声音和加速度的神经元会对特定的机械信号迅速做出反应。然而，转导这些信号并构成这些感觉基础的蛋白质大多尚不清楚。过去十年的研究表明，三类通道蛋白家族的成员是候选转导分子。目前的研究旨在对这些候选分子进行表征，确定它们是如何被机械门控的，并发现参与机械传感的新分子。
