piezo2b Regulates Vertebrate Light Touch Response
- Authors
- Faucherre, A., Nargeot, J., Mangoni, M.E., and Jopling, C.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-131121-13
- Date
- 2013
- Source
- The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience 33(43): 17089-17094 (Journal)
- Registered Authors
- Faucherre, Adele, Jopling, Chris
- Keywords
- none
- MeSH Terms
-
- Animals
- Ion Channels/antagonists & inhibitors
- Ion Channels/genetics
- Ion Channels/metabolism*
- Morpholinos/pharmacology
- Neurons/metabolism
- Neurons/physiology
- Touch*
- Zebrafish
- Zebrafish Proteins/antagonists & inhibitors
- Zebrafish Proteins/genetics
- Zebrafish Proteins/metabolism*
- PubMed
- 24155313 Full text @ J. Neurosci.
The sense of touch allows an organism to detect and respond to physical environmental stimuli. Mechanosensitive proteins play a crucial role in this process by converting the mechanical cue into a biological response. Recently, the Piezo family of stretch-activated ion channels has been identified as genuine mechanosensitive proteins. We set out to determine whether any of these genes are involved in touch response during zebrafish development. In situ hybridization indicates that piezo2b is specifically expressed in a subset of neurons (Rohon–Beard cells) responsible for detecting light touch. Using morpholino-mediated knockdown, we specifically targeted piezo2b and determined that it is involved in mediating touch-evoked response.