Geneclue could help to solve riddle of cot deaths

BABIES who die from “cot death” may lack a gene that controls their breathing, a study shows.

The research could lead to a genetic test for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (Sids).

Experiments on mice found the chemical stops lungs from over-inflating – a condition linked to a host of respiratory disorders.

It causes the organs to become less elastic preventing the expulsion of air.

The discovery could shed fresh light on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or adult sleep apnoea.

Sids claims the lives of at least eight babies in Britain each week and is the main cause of death in babies more than a month old.

The protein called Piezo2 has been implicated in the skin’s sense of touch.

But the new research shows it plays a vital role in regulating normal breathing.

During exercise the average man can inhale 3.5 litres of air with each breath – drastically stretching the airways to accommodate the change in lung volume.

These forces are sensed by “stretch-receptor neurons” whose activation triggers physiological responses.

Most mammals prevent their lungs from over-inflating through a response known as the Hering-Breuer reflex which immediately stops further inhalation.

The researchers found deleting Piezo2 in specific neurons in adult mice impairs the Hering-Breuer reflex – resulting in the body taking larger breaths than normal.

Newborn mice that are deficient in Piezo2 die at birth, reports the study published in Nature.