Drought is one of the most serious abiotic stresses to land plants. Plants sense and respond
to drought stress to survive under water deficiency. Scientists have studied how plants sense …

A transmembrane (TMEM) protein with an unknown function is a type of membrane-
spanning protein expressed in the plasma membrane or the membranes of intracellular …

OSCA/TMEM63 channels are the largest known family of mechanosensitive channels,–,
playing critical roles in plant,,–and mammalian, mechanotransduction. Here we determined …

OSCA/TMEM63s form mechanically activated (MA) ion channels in plants and animals,
respectively. OSCAs and related TMEM16s and transmembrane channel-like (TMC) …

Cells sense physical forces and convert them into electrical or chemical signals, a process
known as mechanotransduction. Whereas extensive studies focus on mechanotransduction …

Mechanosensitive (MS) ion channels are a ubiquitous type of molecular force sensor
sensing forces from the surrounding bilayer. The profound structural diversity in these …

Pulmonary surfactant is a lipoprotein complex lining the alveolar surface to decrease the
surface tension and facilitate inspiration. Surfactant deficiency is often seen in premature …

Age-related hearing loss (ARHL) negatively impacts quality of life in the elderly population.
The prevalent cause of ARHL is loss of mechanosensitive cochlear hair cells (HCs). The …

Airway neuroendocrine (NE) cells have been proposed to serve as specialized sensory
epithelial cells that modulate respiratory behavior by communicating with nearby nerve …

Birds, reptiles and insects have the ability to discriminate humidity levels that influence their
survival and geographic distribution. Insects are particularly susceptible to humidity changes …