9.2 Propagation of the Signal

9.2 Propagation of the Signal

  • The small ligands can interact with the internal receptors.
    • The steroid hormones are important members of this class.
    • Different steroids have different functional groups attached to the carbon skeleton.
    • The female sex hormone, estradiol, is a type of estrogen, and the male sex hormone, testosterone, is a type of testosterone.
    • In order for hormones to be in the blood, they have to bind to carriers.
  • The chemical structures of steroid hormones are similar to cholesterol.
    • Because of their small size, they can diffuse across the cell's plasma membrane and interact with the internal cells.
  • Water-soluble ligands are polar and can't pass through the membranes on their own.
    • There is a diverse group of ligands.
  • There is a gas called NO that acts as a ligand.
    • One of its roles is to interact with the smooth muscle cells and induce relaxation of the tissue.
    • NO only functions over short distances because of its short half-life.
    • The release of NO causes blood vessels to dilate and restore blood flow to the heart.
    • The pathway that NO affects is targeted by prescription medications such as Viagra, so it has become better known recently.
  • The signal is transmitted through the cell wall and into the nucleus.
    • Most components of the cell can't be interacted with by the signal transduction receptors.
    • Only internal receptors are able to interact with the nucleus.
  • Changes in the receptor's intracellular domain occur when a ligand binding to it.
  • Changes in the extracellular domain can lead to the activation of the intracellular domain.
    • The binding of the receptors in this way allows them to come into contact with each other.
  • In a signaling pathway, second messengers-enzymes-and activated proteins interact with specific proteins, which are in turn activated in a chain reaction that eventually leads to a change in the cell's environment.
    • When there are interactions before a point, they are called upstream events, and when there are interactions after a point, they are called downstream events.
  • The EGFR is involved in the regulation of cell growth, wound healing, and tissue repair.
    • A cascade of downstream events causes the cell to grow and divide when EGF is binding to the EGFR.
  • The GTPase activity of the RAS G-protein is not active in some cancers.
    • This means that the GTP cannot be hydrolyzed into GDP.
  • You can see that signaling pathways can get very complex very quickly because most cellular proteins can affect different downstream events depending on the conditions within the cell.
    • A single pathway can branch off to different endpoints based on the interplay between two or more signaling pathways, and the same ligands are often used to initiate different signals in different cell types.
    • The variation in response is due to differences in cell types.
    • This process can make sure that multiple external requirements are met before a cell commits to a specific response.
  • The effects of signals can be amplified.
    • A component of the signaling cascade can be amplified by the activation of a receptor-linked enzyme.
  • There is an animation of cell signaling at this site.
  • The signaling pathway is dependent on the modification of a cellular component.
    • There are many enzymatic modifications that can occur, and they are recognized by the next component downstream.
    • Some of the more common events in signaling are listed.
  • One of the most common modifications that occur in signaling pathways is the addition of a phosphate group to a molecule.
    • GDP or GTP can be formed with the addition of thephosphate.
    • The serine, threonine, and tyrosine residues are often added to with the addition ofphosphates.
  • There are various kinases that phosphorylate.
    • Phosphorylation of serine and threonine can be a problem.
    • A binding site that interacts with downstream components in the signaling cascade can be created by phosphorylation.
    • The reversal of dephosphorylation by a phosphatase will reverse the effect of phosphorylation.
  • The signaling molecule helps to spread a signal through the cytoplasm.
  • The second messenger is calcium ion.
    • The free concentration of calcium ion within a cell is very low because the ion pumps in the plasma membrane continuously remove it.
    • Ca2+ can be accessed from outside the cell or stored in the cytoplasmic vesicles.
    • When signaling occurs, the higher levels of Ca2+ that are present outside the cell can flow into the cytoplasm, raising the concentration of Ca2+ in the body.
    • Depending on the cell type involved, the response to the increase in Ca2+ varies.
    • In the b-cells of the pancreas, Ca2+ signaling leads to the release ofinsulin and in muscle cells, an increase in Ca2+ leads to muscle contraction.
  • CyclicAMP is created by the adenylyl cyclase.
    • A-kinase phosphorylates serine and threonine in its target proteins, which in turn regulates many vital metabolic pathways.
    • Different types of cells have different targets for a-kinase.
    • The responses to cAMP vary in different cells.
  • The mechanism for the formation of cAMP is shown in this diagram.
    • When cAMP is converted intoAMP, the signal is terminated.