InterPro domain: IPR011014

MscS is a mechanosensitive channel present in the membrane of bacteria, archaea and eukarya that responds both to stretching of the cell membrane and to membrane depolarisation [ 1 ]. MscS folds as a homo-heptamer with a cylindrical shape, and can be divided into transmembrane and extramembrane regions: an N-terminal periplasmic region, a transmembrane region, and a C-terminal cytoplasmic region. The MscS family of channels shows diversity in size and sequence between its members; most of the diversity occurs in the size of the transmembrane region, which ranges from three to eleven transmembrane helices, although the three C-terminal helices are conserved. This domain superfamily covers the core transmembrane region, which consists of three transmembrane helices per subunit in an oligomeric fold.

1. Crystal structure of Escherichia coli MscS, a voltage-modulated and mechanosensitive channel. Science 298, 1582-7