STOMATIN

Stomatin is a 31-kDa integral membrane protein, named after the rare h uman haemolytic anaemia hereditary stomatocytosis. In some cases of th is anaemia, in which the red cells leak sodium and potassium ions, thi s protein is absent from the membrane, immediately suggesting that it has a role in the regulation of ion transport. The protein has a singl e hydrophobic domain, presumed to be membrane-associated, is phosphory lated, and is widely distributed in animal tissues. Mutations of a hom ologue in sensory nerve cells of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans d isrupt a neuronal transduction mechanism, in which mechanosensory info rmation is relayed to an ion channel, whose opening initiates an actio n potential. It could be that this protein is a molecular link in a ge neric stretch-sensitive system. Abnormalities of red cell ion transpor t are well known in human hypertension, but the molecular basis has ne ver been elucidated: this protein and its functional associates, opera ting in a stretch- or pressure-sensitive complex, might be important. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.