The kainate receptor GluK2 mediates cold sensing in mice

Thermosensors expressed in peripheral somatosensory neurons sense a wide range of environmental temperatures. While thermosensors detecting cool, warm and hot temperatures have all been extensively characterized, little is known about those sensing cold temperatures. Though several candidate cold sensors have been proposed, none has been demonstrated to mediate cold sensing in somatosensory neurons in vivo, leaving a knowledge gap in thermosensation. Here we characterized mice lacking the kainate-type glutamate receptor GluK2, a mammalian homolog of the Caenorhabditis elegans cold sensor GLR-3. While GluK2 knockout mice respond normally to heat and mechanical stimuli, they exhibit a specific deficit in sensing cold but not cool temperatures. Further analysis supports a key role for GluK2 in sensing cold temperatures in somatosensory DRG neurons in the periphery. Our results reveal that GluK2—a glutamate-sensing chemoreceptor mediating synaptic transmission in the central nervous system—is co-opted as a cold-sensing thermoreceptor in the periphery. The identity of receptors sensing cold temperatures in peripheral somatosensory neurons remains obscure. Cai et al. report that GluK2, a kainate receptor mediating synaptic transmission in the brain, is co-opted as a cold sensor in the periphery.