Year: 2016
Type: article
Abstract: The sensing of physical force, mechanosensation, underlies two of five human senses-touch and hearing. How transduction of force in a membrane occurs remains unclear. We asked if a biological membrane could employ kinetic energy to transduce a signal absent tension. Here we show that lipid rafts are dynamic compartments that inactivate the signalling enzyme phospholipase D2 (PLD2) by sequestering the enzyme from its substrate. Mechanical disruption of the lipid rafts activates PLD2 by mixing the enzyme with its substrate to produce the signalling lipid phosphatidic acid (PA). We calculate a latency time of <650 μs for PLD activation by mixing. Our results establish a fast, non-tension mechanism for mechanotransduction where disruption of ordered lipids initiates a mechanosensitive signal for cell growth through mechanical mixing.
Source: Nature Communications
DOI: 10.1038/ncomms13873
Authors: E. Nicholas Petersen, Hae-Won Chung, Arman Nayebosadri, Scott B. Hansen
Institution: Scripps Research Institute
Language: English
Subfield: Molecular Biology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $6,990
OpenAlex ID: W2564652835