Cell Signalling Flashcards
What level of structure are alpha-helices?
Secondary structure
What is a quartenary structure
Subunits
Paracrine signalling
A form of cell communication in which cells secrete paracrine agents that act on LOCAL TARGET CELLS.
The Paracrine agent diffuses through the interstitial fluid between cells to reach its destination.
Examples: Neurotransmission, Immune response
Endocrine signalling
A form of cell communication in which a specialised cell secretes hormones that travel in the blood circulation.
This allows them to reach cells at distant tissues.
Autocrine signalling
A form of communcation in which a cell secretes a chemical messenger (usuallly a hormone) that binds to receptors on THAT SAME CELL.
This causes changes within the cell.
Contact-dependent signalling
A form of cell communication that requires cells to be in direct membrane-membrane contanct.
Intercellular communication
Cell-to-cell communication that enables cells to influence other neighboring or distant cells to coordinate a response within the tissue/organ.
Intracellular communication
Communication that takes place INSIDE the cell once a signaling molecule has binded to either a receptor on the cell surface membrane or inside the cell.
Stages of cell signaling
- Release
- Reception
- Tranduction
- Response
What does cAMP do once synthesized?
It binds to the regulatory subunits of Protein kinase A and subsequently activates the catalytic subunit of Kinase A.
Kinase-A
Kinase A is a protein that consists of two regulatory subunits and two catalytic subunits. Protein Kinase A regulates other proteins through phosphorylation .
How is cAMP produced?
- Ligang binds to GPCR.
- G-protein activated.
- G-protein dissociates: α-subunit dissociates from the δ & γ-subunits.
- α-subunit binds to and activates the effector adenylyl cyclase .
- Adenylyl cyclase converts ATP to cAMP.
Second messenger
A molecule that amplifies and relays a signal from the receptor intracellularly.
Examples include…
* Diacylglycerol (DAG)
* Inositol 1,4,5-triphosphate (IP3)
* Cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP)
Inositol 1,4,5-triphosphate
A secondary messenger synthesized by phospholipase C from PIP2 that acts on a ligand-gated ion channels in the Smooth ER.
This causes the release of Ca2+ ions from the smooth ER.
Porbol esters
They mimic Diacylglycerol and cause long lasting activation of PKC . This can cause cells to lose control of growth and behave like tumour cells.
Phosphoinositol signal pathway
- Phosphatidylinositol is phosphorylated into PI 4-phosphate [PI kinase]
- PI 4-phosphate is further phosphorylated into PI 4,5-biphosphate [PIP kinase].
- PI 4,5-biphosphate is hydrolysed by [phospholipase C] into DAG and IP3
PI
A glycerophospholipid known as Phosphatidylinositol
PI4-P
Phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate
PIP2
Phosphatidylinositol 4,5-biphosphate
IP3
Inositol 1,4,5-triphosphate
Effector enzymes
Small molecules that bind onto proteins to regulate them.
Examples include:
* Adenylyl cyclase
* Phospolipase C β
Phospholipase C β
An enzyme that catalyses the hydrolysis of PIP2 into DAG and IP3.
How is phospolipase C β activated?
The activation of G-protein leads to the α-subunit activating the phospholipase C β
DAG
Diacylglycerol is a secondary messenger synthesized from the hydrolysis of PIP2 by phospholipase C β.
It causes the activation of protein kinase C
EF hands
Calcium-binding motifs found within a large family of proteins.
* They have a high affinity & selectivity for calcium ions.
CaM
Calmodulin
Calmodulin
A protein that contains four EF hand motifs that allow four calcium ions to bind and cause confirmational change to the protein.
Once activated it can bind and activate other proteins such as kinases.
CaM are activated through the increase of Ca2+ in the cytoplasm.