Molecular tuning of electroreception in sharks and skates

Nicholas W. Bellono (), Duncan B. Leitch and David Julius ()
Additional contact information
Nicholas W. Bellono: University of California, San Francisco
Duncan B. Leitch: University of California, San Francisco
David Julius: University of California, San Francisco

Nature, 2018, vol. 558, issue 7708, 122-126

Abstract: Abstract Ancient cartilaginous vertebrates, such as sharks, skates and rays, possess specialized electrosensory organs that detect weak electric fields and relay this information to the central nervous system1–4. Sharks exploit this sensory modality for predation, whereas skates may also use it to detect signals from conspecifics 5 . Here we analyse shark and skate electrosensory cells to determine whether discrete physiological properties could contribute to behaviourally relevant sensory tuning. We show that sharks and skates use a similar low threshold voltage-gated calcium channel to initiate cellular activity but use distinct potassium channels to modulate this activity. Electrosensory cells from sharks express specially adapted voltage-gated potassium channels that support large, repetitive membrane voltage spikes capable of driving near-maximal vesicular release from elaborate ribbon synapses. By contrast, skates use a calcium-activated potassium channel to produce small, tunable membrane voltage oscillations that elicit stimulus-dependent vesicular release. We propose that these sensory adaptations support amplified indiscriminate signal detection in sharks compared with selective frequency detection in skates, potentially reflecting the electroreceptive requirements of these elasmobranch species. Our findings demonstrate how sensory systems adapt to suit the lifestyle or environmental niche of an animal through discrete molecular and biophysical modifications.

Date: 2018
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0160-9 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:558:y:2018:i:7708:d:10.1038_s41586-018-0160-9

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0160-9

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().