Sensing the energy from mechanical inputs is ubiquitous––and perhaps the oldest form of
biological energy transduction. However, the tools available to probe the mechanisms of
transduction are far fewer than for the chemical and electric field sensitive transducers. The
one pharmacological tool available for mechansensitive ion channels (MSCs) is a peptide
(GsMTx-4) isolated from venom of the tarantula, Grammostola spatulata, that blocks cationic
MSCs found in non-specialized eukaryotic tissues. In this review, we summarize the current …