Cells use actin bundles infused with myosin to exert contractile forces on the extracellular environment. This active tension is essential for cellular mechanosensation. Now, the role of actin crosslinkers in stabilizing and repairing the actin bundles is coming into clearer view.

The cloning of deafness genes, especially those for Usher syndrome, has helped to identify a variety of structural proteins involved in the development and function of hair-cell stereocilia. These include novel cadherins, a handful of myosin motors, and scaffolding proteins. Yet a new understanding of these proteins has upended the orthodox view of mechanosensation by hair cells.

Temporal processing and context dependency in C. elegans mechanosensation Mochi Liu1, Anuj K Sharma2, Joshua W Shaevitz1,2, Andrew M Leifer2,3* *For correspondence: [email protected] (AML) 1Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University, USA; 2Department of Physics, Princeton University, Princeton University, USA; 3Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University...

The mammalian, highly amiloride-sensitive epithelial sodium channel (ENaC) is member of the degenerin/ENaC superfamily of ion channels known to be implicated in sodium homeostasis, mechanosensation, and mechanoperception. A novel role for ENaC implicated in differentiation processes in skin reshapes our current view of this ancient transmembrane channel protein.