Speaker: Prof. Yixiao Zhang, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, CAS

Time: 10:00-11:30 a.m., May 20, 2024, GMT+8

Venue: Youcai Deng Lecture Hall, School of Life Sciences, PKU

Abstract: 

All known life forms sense and respond to mechanical forces. These mechanical cues can be converted into electrical signals by mechanosensitive channels, a transduction cascade central to many physiological processes, including hearing, osmoregulation, and proprioception. However, how these channels react to mechanical forces remains largely exclusive, mostly due to the difficulty in mimicking mechanical force to capture their structures inaction. Our lab utilizes nanodiscs and liposomes based methods to mimic mechanical environments for structural analysis of mechanosensitive channels in their activated state. Through studies on different mechanosensitive channels in bacteria, plants, and mammals, we have revealed the critical roles of lipids and lipidation in mechanotransduction.

Source: School of Life Sciences, PKU