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Science 22 November 2002:
Vol. 298. no. 5598, pp. 1562 - 1563
DOI: 10.1126/science.1079369
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Perspectives

STRUCTURAL BIOLOGY:
Force and Voltage Sensors in One Structure

Francisco Bezanilla and Eduardo Perozo

To respond to sudden changes in osmolality, most prokaryotes have mechanosensitive channels that open in response to tension and so prevent the cell-membrane from bursting. In their perspective, Bezanilla and Perozo discuss new work (Bass et al.) on the structure of a small-conductance mechanosensitive channel (MscS) that provides new insights into how the cell senses and responds to changes in tension and voltage.

F. Bezanilla is in the Departments of Physiology and Anesthesiology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA. E-mail: fbezanil{at}ucla.edu E. Perozo is in the Department of Molecular Physiology and Biological Physics, School of Medicine, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22908, USA. E-mail: eperozo{at}virginia.edu

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Ion Channels in Microbes.
B. Martinac, Y. Saimi, and C. Kung (2008)
Physiol Rev 88, 1449-1490
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Mechanosensitive ion channels: molecules of mechanotransduction.
B. Martinac (2004)
J. Cell Sci. 117, 2449-2460
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
C Termini of the Escherichia coli Mechanosensitive Ion Channel (MscS) Move Apart upon the Channel Opening.
P. Koprowski and A. Kubalski (2003)
J. Biol. Chem. 278, 11237-11245
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


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