Based on Lei CHEN Lab’s cryo-EM structure of OSCA, we explored the possible ion permeation pathway of this mechanosensitive ion channel and simulated its conformational changes in response to membrane surface tension. The results match with mutagenesis and electrophysiology studies, and a mechano-gating mechanism was proposed. It’s been a very smooth and successful collaboration between three labs: Lei CHEN’s lab@PKU, Zhiqiang YAN’s lab@Fudan, and us.

Dali Wang performed the computational work. The paper has appeared online: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41594-018-0117-6