Fig. 1.

Enrichment of cholesterol at foci of force perception. (A) Filipin, a fluorescent antibiotic that binds cholesterol, preferentially stains the tips of bullfrog stereocilia. (Reproduced with permission from ref. 37.) (B) MEC-2, which complexes with the ion channel in C. elegans touch receptor, binds cholesterol. [³H]photocholesterol-treated MEC-2s from expressing HEK-cell lysate were immunoprecipitated and electrophoresed. For similar protein amount (Lower) wild-type but not MEC-2 from a touch-blind mutant captures cholesterol (Upper). (Reproduced from ref. 42.)