Shaopeng Chi

Adult brain activities are generally believed to be dominated by chemical and electrical transduction mechanisms. However, the importance of mechanotransduction mediated by mechano-gated ion channels in brain functions is less appreciated.

In Extended Data Fig. 9a of this Article, the bottom photomicrographs (labelled ‘permeabilized’) of mPiezo1-ΔL3-4-IRES-GFP and mPiezo1-ΔL7-8-IRES-GFP were inadvertently duplicated, after the wrong photomicrographs were inserted for mPiezo1-ΔL7-8-IRES-GFP. The correct figure panels are shown below as Fig. 1, and the original Article has not been corrected. We thank the reader who pointed out this error.

The mechanosensitive Piezo channels function as key eukaryotic mechanotransducers. However, their structures and mechanogating mechanisms remain unknown. Here, we determine the three-bladed, propeller-like cryo-EM structures of mouse Piezo1 and functionally reveal its mechanotransduction components. Despite the lack of sequence repetition, we identify 9 repetitive units constituted of 4 transmembrane (TM) helices each, termed THUs, assembling into the highly curved blade-like structure.