2021 Nobel Prize for mechanosensory transduction

Boris Martinac

doi:10.1007/s12551-022-00935-9

2021 Nobel Prize for mechanosensory transduction

Biophys Rev. 2022 Feb 19;14(1):15-20. doi: 10.1007/s12551-022-00935-9. eCollection 2022 Feb.

Author

Boris Martinac¹

Affiliation

¹ Molecular Cardiology and Biophysics Division, Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute and St. Vincent's Medical School, Darlinghurst, NSW 2010 Australia.

Abstract

Written by someone who has worked in the mechanobiology field for close to 40 years, this commentary describes some historical background to the recent award of one-half of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine to Ardem Patapoutian for his discovery of the family of mechanosensitive Piezo ion channels, which function as mechanoreceptors feeling the environment in senses such as touch, pain, and proprioception.

Keywords: Mechanosensitive ion channels; MscL; MscS; Piezo1; Piezo2.