Unit 6 Flashcards
Why do cells need to communicate with each other?
Single celled organisms: social life(mating)
Multicellular organisms: development, growth, day to day physiology
Long range communication
1-Endocrine: - through the bloodstream
- hormone enters stream, it’s travels, binds to the receptor and leaves
2-Neuronal:- connected by wires, travels through axon and reaches neurotransmitter and synapses to target cell
Shorty range communication
1-Paracrine:- diffusion, one cell signal released
- hormone released from signaling cell to target cell
2-Contact-dependent:- signaling cell attaches the hormone to the target cell
What is the signalling Pathway?
1- signalling molecule synthesized and released by signalling cell
2- signal molecule travels to target cell
3- signal binds to receptor protein on/in target cell
*signal transduction
4- changes in protein activity( activation/inactivation)
- changes in gene expression
5- changes in cell shape, movement, metabolism, secretion etc
How is cell behaviour driven by multiple signals?
1- survive( one cell -> one cell)
2- grow and divide (one cell-> two cells)
3-differentiate (one cell -> one specialized cell ie changed shape)
4-die (one cell -> apoptosis)
How can a cells response be fast or slow?
Fast: when the ligand binds to the receptor it goes through intracellular signalling pathway to an altered protein (enzyme)
Slow: when the ligand binds to the receptor it goes to the nucleus to the dna and transcripted to rna and translated through altered protein synthesis
Both then go to altered cytoplasmic machinery to altered cell behaviour
Where can receptors on cells be found?
1- cell surface receptors: on the surface
2- intracellular receptors: on the nucleus inside the cell, drives gene transcription
- small hydrophobic signal molecules enter the cell and bind to receptors that regulate gene transcription ( ie. steroids )
What is the steroid hormone mechanism of action?
1- cortisol crosses through the plasma membrane
2- nuclear receptor protein binds to the cortisol which activates the protein
3- the activated receptor-cortisol complex moves ito the nucleus through nuclear imports
4- the activate protein bind to the regulatory region of the target gene and activate transcription
What proteins affect cell responses?
Metabolic: altered metabolism
Cytoskeleton: a;termed cells shape or movement
Transcription: altered gene expression
What is a second messenger?
Small molecules that relay signals from the cell surface receptors too target molecules within cell
Signalling by phosphorylation vs signalling by GTP-binding protein
Phosphorylation:
1- protein is OFF
2- signal goes into the cell and ATP donates a phosphate
3- the protein turns ON
4- the phosphate is removed and the protein turns off
GTP:
1- the g-protein is OFF and has a GDP attached
2- signal goes into the protein and the GDP is removed and GTP is added
3- the addition of GTP: activates the g-protein
4- a phosphate is removed and the g-protein with GDP is inactivated
Regulation of proteins by phosphorylation
- turning OFF is as important as ON
- each step that is activated needs too be inactivated
- proteins regulate by phosphorylation are kinases, phosphorylation cascades
- not random
- tyrosine kinases ->phosphorylation hydroxyl groups of tyrosine
Cell surface receptors
- Ion channels
- binding of ligand opens or closes the ion channel
- flow of ions change the voltage across membrane( electrochemical gradient) - GPCR
- binding of ligand activates trimeric(three) GTP binding proteins which activate the enzyme in the membrane
- half of all known drugs act via GPCR - Enzyme coupled receptors
- the receptors are enzymes or associated with enzymes
Activation of a GPCR
- Type receptor is inactive within the membrane along with the trimeric g-protein
- The signal molecule binds to the receptor and activate it, the trimeric g-protein binds to the receptor on the cytosolic side
- The GDP attached to the g-protein is released and GTP is added
- The activated receptor and g-protein separate into the receptor, alpha protein and the beta and gamma subunit
How does the alpha subunit turn itself off?
- The activated unit binds to an enzyme or target protein (which activates the enzyme ) and a phosphate is removed
- The removal of the phosphate detaches the alpha protein to the enzyme which deactivates them both
- The alpha and the beta and gamma subunit bind together