Second cold-sensing protein found

They’re on a hot streak. Researchers who last year discovered a mammalian cell-surface protein that senses coolness–and the presence of menthol–have now found a protein that enables nerve cells to recognize much colder temperatures (SN: 2/16/02, p. 101: Available to subscribers at Cool Discovery: Menthol triggers cold-sensing protein).

Whereas the cool-menthol receptor kicks in around 25C, the newly identified receptor doesn’t trigger nerve cells until the thermometer falls below 15C, Ardem Patapoutian of the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif.,