Tags: Protein.
Mechanosensitive (MS) channels provide protection against hypo-osmotic shock responding both to stretching of the cell membrane and to membrane depolarisation. They are present in the membranes of organisms from the three domains of life: bacteria archaea and eukarya. There are two families of MS channels: large-conductance MS channels (MscL) and small-conductance MS channels (MscS or YGGB). The pressure threshold for MscS opening is 50% that of MscL.