| Abstract: | ["Touching our skin or stretching a leg activates a series of mechanoreceptor neurons that provide us with crucial information about our surrounding and ourselves. The sensation of mechanical force intricately couples our inner with the external world. However, before we become aware, the mechanical information needs to be transmitted to a molecular mechanosensor, independently of how the information is generated. The detailed molecular principle of how mechanical information becomes transmitted within cells and eventually activates mechanosensitive ion channels during touch and proprioception is currently under debate. In our lab, we employ C elegans as a genetic model organism to decipher the mechanical fingerprints underlying touch sensation and proprioception. We use genetic methods to dissect the role of the actin\/spectrin cytoskeleton in mechanosensation, in combination with neurophysiology and genetically encoded tension sensors to map the forces that stabilize the open conformation of mechanosensitive ion channels. We focus on the stereotypic touch response and locomotion behavior to identify potential force transmission pathways through the cytoskeleton. In my talk, I provide an update about our efforts to define how the mechanosensitive ion channel feels the force during touch and proprioception."] |
