Issue Archive

“Gating-Spring” model and molecular basis of mechanotransduction in Drosophila melanogaster

LIANG Xin

School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China

Abstract

The sense of mechanical stimuli (e.g. force or deformation) in the environment underlies several important physiological processes, for example the perception of sound, touch, pain and acceleration. The key step in mechanosensation is to convert the extracellular mechanical stimuli into cellular electrical or chemical signals. This process is termed as mechanotransduction. Based on mechanical and electrophysiological measurements, “Gating-Spring” theory was proposed as a general model to describe the cell biological mechanism of mechanotransduction. However, despite efforts made in several model organisms, the molecular basis of the “Gating-Spring” model remains elusive. In recent years, several key progresses have been made using the mechanoreceptors of Drosophila melanogaster as the models. This article introduces the “Gating-Spring” theory and reviews the recent research progresses on the fly mechanotransduction.

Key words: Drosophila melanogaster; mechanotransduction ; “Gating-Spring” model ; mechanosensitive channel ; cytoskeleton

Received: 2015-09-02　　Accepted: 2015-09-28

Corresponding author: 梁鑫　　E-mail: xinliang@tsinghua.edu.cn

Citing This Article：

LIANG Xin. “Gating-Spring” model and molecular basis of mechanotransduction in Drosophila melanogaster. Acta Physiol Sin 2016; 68 (1): 87-97 (in Chinese with English abstract).