Talk abstracts
Talk on Tuesday 09:15-09:30am submitted by Marcos Sotomayor
Sixty years in the making: A molecular movie of inner-ear mechanotransduction
Marcos Sotomayor (Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, The Ohio State University)
Abstract:
Hearing and balance sensory perception begin when tip-link protein filaments convey forces from sound and head movements to mechanosensitive ion channels of unclear molecular identity. Opening of these channels triggers an electrical signal that is sent to the brain in a process known as mechanotransduction. I will present structural, computational, and biochemical experiments that reveal the mechanics of tip links and the ion conduction properties of the membrane protein thought to be the pore-forming subunit of the inner-ear mechanotransduction apparatus. These results are providing a molecular and dynamic view of the first steps in inner-ear sensory perception.
Keywords: cadherins, TMC1, molecular dynamics simulations