Owens, Hannah et al. (2021) International Worm Meeting "Characterizing the Role of the Mechanosensitive Ion Channel TACAN in C. elegans Osmosensation"

Davidova, Albena, Hendricks, Michael, Owens, Hannah, Tala Tirera, Fouley, Sharif-Naeini, Reza

[International Worm Meeting, 2021]

Mechanotransduction occurs via ion channels whose gating is controlled by mechanical stimuli. Recently, the transmembrane protein TACAN was identified as a mechanosensitive ion channel crucial for sensing mechanical pain in mice, and TACAN homologs were shown to be highly conserved across other species such as humans and nematodes. The nematode C. elegans is an ideal model organism to study the molecular properties of TACAN, given its mapped connectome, simple behavior, and capacity for genetic manipulations. Our preliminary data suggest that the uncharacterized TACAN homolog in C. elegans is involved in worm mechanosensation, specifically contributing to the detection of osmotic stimuli.