Cell Structure and Function: Cell Signalling Flashcards
What is local signalling?
Signals that act on nearby targets
What is paracrine signalling
Is when a cell produces a signal to induce change in nearby cells
What is an example of paracrine signalling?
Growth factors such as fibroblasts growth factor (FGF1)
What is synaptic signalling?
similar to paracrine signalling but have junctions (synapses) between the cell produces the signal ( neurotransmitters) and the cell receiving the signal
What is an example of synaptic signalling?
Acetylcholine
What is long distance signalling?
are signals that act from a distance. Hormones produced by specialised cells travel via circulatory system to act on specific cells (produced from endocrine system)
What are some examples of long distance signalling?
insulin from pancreatic beta cells bind to insulin receptors (tyrosine kinase type) initiating a cascade which results in glucose uptake
What are the two types of local signalling?
Paracrine and Synaptic
What are the two types of secreted signals?
Local and long distance
What are the three steps of cell signalling?
Reception, transduction, response
What is the first step of cell signalling?
Reception
What is reception?
Allows or causes the activation of a protein
What are the two types of receptors?
Intracellular and membrane bound/cell surface receptors
What are intracellular receptors?
Receptors inside our cells
They are the least common type of receptor
Where are intracellular receptors located?
Cytoplasm or cytosol of the cell
Examples of ligands that bind to intracellular receptors
Testosterone, estrogen, progesterone, thyroid hormones bind to receptors in the cytoplasm (they are hydrophobic so they can pass through plasma membrane) and move to nucleus as a complex)
What is a ligand/primary messenger/signalling molecule?
a signalling molecule that binds to another (usually larger) specific protein
How can some ligands cross the plasma membrane to reach intracellular receptors?
They are hydrophobic and/or small
What are membrane bound/cell surface receptors?
Receptors embedded in the plasma membrane of the cell/membrane of organelles
Function of membrane bound receptors?
To allow primary messengers that are hydrophilic and/or large to cross the plasma membrane
Examples of membrane bound receptors
G Protein Coupled Receptor, Receptor Tyrosine Kinase, ligand-gated ion channel
What are G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs)?
A membrane bound receptor that is also a transmembrane protein that crosses the plasma membrane 7 times
What are transmembrane domains?
The loops on a GPCR that are in the hydrophilic regions inside and outside a cell so they can interact with molecules
What are G proteins
the proteins that GPCR’s are coupled with. They are molecular switches that are either on or off depending on whether GDP or GTP is bound