Chemistry News

Proteins get touchy under pressure

 

Our sense of touch and balance is deeply ingrained in our experiences, but what are the chemical processes that make it work? Rachel Brazil investigates

 In 2010, the Piezo protein family was discovered to be responsible for how we feel. They are ion-channel proteins, which control the flow of sodium, calcium and potassium in and out of cells. Piezo1 and Piezo2 are remarkably large, both in terms of their weight and how large their pores are. Scientists are still getting to the bottom of how exactly our sense of touch work.

8940login-checkProteins get touchy under pressure
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