MEET PIEZO1, THE HUMBLE PROTEIN MOLECULE RESPONSIBLE FOR OUR SENSE OF TOUCH

TOUCHING IS MORE THAN SKIN-DEEP.

In school, we learn that our sense of touch has to do with receptors in our skin sending information to the brain. Which is true, but it takes teeny-weeny protein molecules to build those receptors and scientists have finally been able to unravel the structure of one of those proteins, Piezo1. This molecule, along with others, converts physical stimuli into chemical signals.

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute in California have found that the protein is made up of three blade-like sections surrounding a central core and it is believed that the three ‘blades’ move in response to a physical sensation, thus opening the core and allowing ions to move through to communicate the sense of touch. The structure also sheds light on how best to target mutated protein molecules which are the cause of diseases like congenital lymphedema, and dehydrated hereditary stomatocytosis.