Main protein for sensing touch identified in mammals

When someone’s fingers graze our skin, it’s probably the protein Piezo2 that transforms the action into an electrical signal our brain recognizes as a light touch. Mice lacking Piezo2 in their skin cells and nerve endings aren’t as sensitive to light touches as mice with Piezo2, but the mice without Piezo2 still respond in a similar way to strong pokes and other painful stimuli. The results, published in the Dec. 4 Nature, suggest that one set of nerve endings using Piezo2 mediates mammals’ sense of touch while another set of nerve endings with proteins that have yet to be discovered transfer pain signals.