Cell Communication
Hello!
signaling target
cell cell
Overview: The Cellular Internet
• Cell-to-cell communication is essential for multicellular
organisms
• The combined effects of multiple signals determine cell
response
• For example, the dilation of blood vessels is controlled by
multiple molecules
Copyright © 2008 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Pearson Benjamin Cummings
Evolution of Cell Signaling
• A signal transduction pathway is a series of steps by which a signal
on a cell’s surface is converted into a specific cellular response
• Signal transduction pathways convert signals on a cell’s surface into
cellular responses
• Pathway similarities - ancestral signaling molecules evolved in
prokaryotes and were modified later in eukaryotes
• The concentration of signaling molecules allows bacteria to detect
population density
Copyright © 2008 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Pearson Benjamin Cummings
Local and Long-Distance Signaling
• In local signaling, animal cells may
communicate by (a) Cell junctions
Plasma membranes
– direct contact, or
– cell-cell recognition
• Animal and plant cells have cell junctions
Gap junctions Plasmodesmata
that directly connect the cytoplasm of between animal cells between plant cells
(b) Cell-cell recognition
adjacent cells
• Cells in a multicellular organism
communicate by chemical messengers
• In many cases, animal cells communicate using local regulators, messenger molecules that travel
only short distances Local signaling
Electrical signal along
nerve cell triggers release
of neurotransmitter
Target cell
Neurotransmitter
diffuses across
Secreting synapse
Secretory
cell vesicle
Local regulator
diffuses through Target cell
extracellular fluid is stimulated
(a) Paracrine signaling (b) Synaptic signaling
autocrine actions - act on the cells which produce them
paracrine actions – act on cells adjacent to them
endocrine actions - active distant from their site of secretion
Long-distance signaling
Endocrine cell Blood
vessel
In long-distance signaling,
plants and animals use Hormone travels
in bloodstream
chemicals called hormones to target cells
Target
cell
(c) Hormonal signaling
The Three Stages of Cell Signaling: A Preview
• Earl W. Sutherland discovered how the hormone epinephrine acts on cells
• Sutherland suggested that cells receiving signals went through three processes:
– Reception
– Transduction
– Response
Copyright © 2008 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Pearson Benjamin Cummings
Reception: A signal molecule binds to a receptor
protein, causing it to change shape
• The binding between a signal molecule (ligand) and receptor is highly
specific
• A shape change in a receptor is often the initial transduction of the signal
• Most signal receptors are membrane proteins
• There are three main types of membrane receptors:
G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR)
Receptor tyrosine kinases
Ion channel receptors
Copyright © 2008 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Pearson Benjamin Cummings
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Transduction: Cascades of molecular interactions relay signals from
receptors to target molecules in the cell
• Signal transduction - involves multiple steps
• Multistep pathways can amplify a signal: A few molecules can produce a
large cellular response
• Multistep pathways provide more opportunities for coordination and
regulation of the cellular response
• At each step, the signal is transduced into a different form, usually a
shape change in a protein
Copyright © 2008 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Pearson Benjamin Cummings
Small Molecules and Ions as Second Messengers
• The extracellular signal molecule that binds to the receptor is a pathway’s
“first messenger”
• Second messengers are small, nonprotein, water-soluble molecules or
ions that spread throughout a cell by diffusion
• Second messengers participate in pathways initiated by G protein-
coupled receptors and receptor tyrosine kinases
• Cyclic AMP and Ca2+ ions are common second messengers
Copyright © 2008 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Pearson Benjamin Cummings
Fig. 11-11
1.The 1st messenger binds to a First
messenger
receptor, activates it and the Adenylyl
G protein cyclase
receptor releases a G-protein.
2.The G-protein binds to an
enzyme, adenylyl cyclase, G protein-coupled GTP
receptor
which converts ATP to cAMP, ATP
Second
cAMP messenger
the 2nd messenger.
3.The cAMP activates another Protein
kinase A
protein, usually a kinase
which add Pi, that activates or
Cellular responses
inactivates other enzymes
Fig. 11-12
EXTRACELLULAR
Plasma
FLUID
membrane • Low level of Ca2+ in the cytosol.
Ca2+ pump • Ca2+ is always high outside of the cell or
ATP
Mitochondrion
in the ER/matrix of mitochondria
• Protein pumps in the plasma membrane
Nucleus
& the ER membrane, driven by ATP,
CYTOSOL
move Ca2+ from the cytosol into the
Ca2+
pump extracellular fluid & into the lumen of the
Endoplasmic
reticulum (ER) ER.
Ca2+
ATP pump
• Mitochondrial pumps, driven by
chemiosmosis, move Ca2+ into the
Key
High [Ca2+]
mitochondria when the Ca level in the
Low [Ca2+]
cytosol rises significantly
Response: Cell signaling leads to regulation of
transcription or cytoplasmic activities
• The cell’s response to an extracellular signal is sometimes called
the “output response”
Termination of the Signal
• Inactivation mechanisms are an essential aspect of cell signaling
• When signal molecules leave the receptor, the receptor reverts to
its inactive state
Copyright © 2008 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Pearson Benjamin Cummings
Fig. 11-14
Growth factor
Reception
1.The initial signaling molecule (growth factor) Receptor
triggers a phosphorylation cascade.
2.Once phosphorylated, the last kinase in the Phosphorylation
cascade
Transduction
sequence enters the nucleus and there
activates a gene-regulating protein, a CYTOPLASM
transcription factor.
3.This protein stimulates transcription of a Inactive Active
transcription transcription
specific gene (or genes). factor factor
Response
P
4.The resulting mRNA then directs the DNA
synthesis of a particular protein the Gene
cytoplasm. NUCLEUS mRNA
