Got To Go? Scientists Uncover A Gene That Helps Sense A Full Bladder

 

Research scientists at The Scripps Institute in La Jolla, CA, discovered the gene responsible for making us urinate! Sounds really gross, but have you ever wondered why you always have a powerful urge to urinate. The gene that is responsible is the PIEZO2, which is kind of funny because it has "pee" in it. This gene is located in sensory neurons as well as the urothelial cells that help coordinate urination (Nature). These two cell types all the brain to know when we need to pee. It makes sense why the urge is so powerful because urinating is essential to our health. We need to get rid of the waste in our body and holing it in can cause damage to our health. This gene allows us to stay healthy, by letting us know, kind of like an alarm clock, when we need to release our waste. The neurons and cells work together to form the urge. When we have to pee, our bladder expands and this is hen the PIEZO2 genes that encode the proteins that are activated. An experiment with mice showed that removing the gene cause the mice to have trouble urinating, in which they urinated at randoms times not in a controlled way. Without this gene, we might be peeing randomly which is not something you would ant to see in public. They are conducting more research for the future to gain a better understanding.

https://www.genengnews.com/news/got-to-go-scientists-uncover-a-gene-that-helps-sense-a-full-bladder/

https://neurosciencenews.com/urination-genetics-17187/