Laboratory of Cellular Biophysics, Aachen University of Applied Sciences, Juelich, Germany.
Adv Exp Med Biol. 2011;704:451-68. doi: 10.1007/978-94-007-0265-3_25.
Temperature sensing is essential for the survival of living organisms. Since thermal gradients are almost everywhere, thermoreception could represent one of the oldest sensory transduction processes that evolved in organisms. There are many examples of temperature changes affecting the physiology of living cells. Almost all classes of biological macromolecules in a cell (nucleic acids, lipids, proteins) can serve as a target of the temperature-related stimuli. This review is devoted to some common features of different classes of temperature-sensing molecules as well as molecular and biological processes involved in thermosensation. Biochemical, structural and thermodynamic approaches are discussed in order to overview the existing knowledge on molecular mechanisms of thermosensation.
温度感应对于生物的生存至关重要。由于温度梯度几乎无处不在，因此热感受器可能代表了生物中进化最早的感觉转导过程之一。有许多例子表明，温度变化会影响活细胞的生理机能。细胞中几乎所有类别的生物大分子（核酸、脂质、蛋白质）都可以作为与温度相关刺激的靶标。本综述致力于探讨不同类别的温度感应分子的一些共同特征，以及参与热感觉的分子和生物学过程。为了概述关于热感觉分子机制的现有知识，讨论了生化、结构和热力学方法。
