Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Scientists discover mechanism of hearing

news.ohsu.edu

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

1–10 of 50 posts

Re: Scientists discover mechanism of hearing

#5

Post by yjftsjthsd-h »

leephillips wrote: post #4
nightfly wrote: post #2

Quoted post unavailable.

As it is said in the article, “Scientists exploited the fact that the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans harbors a mechanosensory complex very similar to that of humans.” So, not only in worms.

> very similar to that of humans.

I hope it matches, of course, but I've seen enough rat studies to feel like that's weasel wording.

Re: Scientists discover mechanism of hearing

#7

Post by tgv »

yjftsjthsd-h wrote: post #5
leephillips wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As it is said in the article, “Scientists exploited the fact that the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans harbors a mechanosensory complex very similar to that of humans.” So, not only in worms.

> very similar to that of humans. I hope it matches, of course, but I've seen enough rat studies to feel like that's weasel wording.

This isn't about a drug. Those have some very specific conditions under which they have to do their thing. This is about a mechanism for transducing oscillatory forces to a neuronal signal, and it describes the exact structure. There are still holes in the pathway, but it looks very interesting to me, and (from my lay understanding) generic enough. You wouldn't say that a study into a rat's retina is completely irrelevant to human eye sight, would you?

Re: Scientists discover mechanism of hearing

#8

Post by ncr100 »

swayvil wrote: post #6

Was it always a big mystery? Or did we think we understood it the whole time, but only just recently discovered that we actually didn't?

Mystery.

According to the article and the paper we now have a clear understanding of how it works - the proteins in worms (which are similar to humans in their hearing structures) and their function.

So, unless I misread it, we absolutely know how sound > neural impulse works.

More:

> The initial step in the sensory transduction pathway underpinning hearing and balance in mammals involves the conversion of force into the gating of a mechanosensory transduction channel1. Despite the profound socioeconomic impacts of hearing disorders and the fundamental biological significance of understanding mechanosensory transduction, the composition, structure and mechanism of the mechanosensory transduction complex have remained poorly characterized. Here we report the single-particle cryo-electron microscopy structure of the native transmembrane channel-like protein 1 (TMC-1) mechanosensory transduction complex isolated from Caenorhabditis elegans. The two-fold symmetric complex is composed of two copies each of the pore-forming TMC-1 subunit, the calcium-binding protein CALM-1 and the transmembrane inner ear protein TMIE. CALM-1 makes extensive contacts with the cytoplasmic face of the TMC-1 subunits, whereas the single-pass TMIE subunits reside on the periphery of the complex, poised like the handles of an accordion. A subset of complexes additionally includes a single arrestin-like protein, arrestin domain protein (ARRD-6), bound to a CALM-1 subunit. Single-particle reconstructions and molecular dynamics simulations show how the mechanosensory transduction complex deforms the membrane bilayer and suggest crucial roles for lipid–protein interactions in the mechanism by which mechanical force is transduced to ion channel gating.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05314-8

Re: Scientists discover mechanism of hearing

#10

Post by swayvil »

ncr100 wrote: post #8
swayvil wrote: post #6

Was it always a big mystery? Or did we think we understood it the whole time, but only just recently discovered that we actually didn't?

Mystery. According to the article and the paper we now have a clear understanding of how it works - the proteins in worms (which are similar to humans in their hearing structures) and their function. So, unless I misread it, we absolutely know how sound > neural impulse works. More: > The initial step in the sensory transduction pathway underpinning hearing and balance in mammals involves the conversion of force into…

>So, unless I misread it, we absolutely know how sound > neural impulse works

Am I being unclear?

I asked : did we always consider it to be a mystery? Or did we have a different model before? (Which just recently got replaced by this new, better, model)

Post reply on HN