Cell Communication Notes Guide:

Concept: External signals are converted to responses within the cell

Reception-The target cell’s detection of a signal molecule coming from the outside.
Transduction-The conversion of the signal to a form that can bring about a specific cellular
response.
Response-The specific cellular response to the signal molecule.

Concept: A signal molecule binds to a receptor protein, causing it to change shape

Ligand (key): The signaling molecule
Receptor (lock): Protein that detects specific ligands

The type of signaling a cell uses is based on the ________________ between the cell it is trying
to signal
Autocrine Signaling: This occurs when a cell signals itself. The production and secretion of an
extracellular mediator by a cell followed by the binding of that mediator to receptors on the
same cell to initiate signal transduction.
-Examples include: cancer cells making their own growth hormone rather than relying
on its release from the pituitary gland, macrophages which attack infected cells. Used in the
development of embryos so cells can take on and reinforce their correct identities.
4 Main types of cell signaling:
Juxtacrine/Direct Communication (contact): Cells are touching. One cell can
recognize the molecules on the adjacent cell. Similar to two people having a personal
conversation
Tight Junctions: Belts around the epithelial cells that line organs and serve
as a barrier to prevent leakage into or out of those organs. (Animal Cells)
Desmosomes: “spot welds” found in many tissues that are subjected to
severe mechanical stress such as skin epithelium or the neck of the uterus, which
must expand greatly during childbirth (Animal Cells)
_________ junctions permit the passage of materials directly from the
cytoplasm from one cell to the cytoplasm of an adjacent cell. In the muscle tissue
of the heart, the flow of ions through the gap junctions coordinate the
contractions of the cardiac cells. (Animal Cells)
Plasmodesmata: connect one plant cell to the next. They are analogous to
gap junctions in animal cells. (Plant cells)
Example from Plants: ______________________
Example from Animals: ____________
Orchestrates early embryo development
 Paracrine Signaling: Ligands produced by cells can travel through extracellular
fluid (diffusion) and be read by other ____________ cells. Similar to a teacher teaching a
class.
-Short-lived molecules: eg neurotransmitters
-Two Outcomes:
• Read by another cell
• Degraded by enzymes

Endocrine Signaling: Ligand released by a cell and makes it way to the (blood)
circulatory system. Similar to someone making an announcement over the PA system.
• Can be spread to the ________________ body
• Long-lived molecules known as hormones
• Used extensively in plants and animals

Synaptic Signaling: Rapid communication with distant cells using nerve cells’ long
fiber-like extensions. Similar to emailing where info bounces from one server to the next
until they reach a destination.
• Ligands are called _________________________________
• Chemical Synapse: association of the neuron and its target cell
• Used by the nervous system - ex: touch, reflexes

Concept: External signals are converted to responses within the cell

Reception-The target cell’s detection of a signal molecule coming from the outside.
Reception occurs when a ______________ molecule (ligand) _________ to a receptor protein.
Found in two places:
plasma membrane receptor proteins
-Binds to water-soluble ligands
intracellular receptor proteins
-Found inside the plasma membrane in the cytoplasm or nucleus. The signal
molecule (ligand) must cross the plasma membrane and therefore must be hydrophobic, like
the steroid hormone testosterone.
-Example: G Protein-coupled receptor is a membrane receptor that works with the help
of a G protein.
Step 1: The ligand or signaling molecule has bound to the G protein-coupled receptor. This
causes a conformational change in the receptor so that it may now bind to an inactive G
protein, causing a GTP (Guanine Triphosphate) to displace the GDP (Guanine Diphosphate).
This activates the G Protein.
Step 2: The G protein binds to a specific enzyme and activates it. When the enzyme is
activated, it can trigger the next step in a pathway leading to a cellular response. All the
molecular shape changes are temporary. To continue the cellular response, new signal
molecules are required.
-Example: Receptor Tyrosine Kinase
Step 1: The binding of signal molecules to the receptors and the subsequent formation
of a dimer. In the dimer configuration each tyrosine kinase adds a phosphate from ATP
molecule.
Step 2: The fully activated receptor protein as it initiates a unique cellular response for
each phosphorylated tyrosine.
-The key ability of a single ligand to activate multiple cellular responses is a key
difference between G protein-coupled receptors and receptor tyrosine kinases.
-Protein kinase receptors belong to a class of plasma membrane receptors that function
as enzymes. One example is RTK, receptor tyrosine kinase. Steroid messengers diffuse
directly through the cell membrane and once inside the cell, bind to a second
messenger, like cAMP.
-Example: Plasma Membrane Receptor Proteins:
Step 1: a ligand arrives at the receptor protein (ligand-gated ion channel receptor)
in the plasma membrane
Step 2: the gate opens allowing ions to flow into the cell.
Step 3: The gate closes as the signal molecule leaves or is broken down.
• Intracellular Receptors: Intracellular Receptors bind hydrophobic ligands
- Hydrophobic ligands can easily cross the plasma membrane
• Main class of Intracellular Receptors are ______________ Receptors

Concept: Transduction: Cascades of molecular interactions relay signal from receptors to

target molecules in the cell
Transduction-The conversion of the signal to a form that can bring about a specific cellular
response.

At each step, the signal is transduced into a different form

-Commonly a shape change in a protein
-Shape change is brought about by phosphorylation (addition of a phosphate group)
-Signal transduction often involve a phosphorylation cascade.
When receptors are membrane proteins, the transduction stage is usually a multistep
pathway
-Multistep pathways can ___________________ a signal

-Enzymes called protein kinases phosphorylate and thereby activate many proteins at the next
level. This cascade of phosphorylation greatly enhances the signal, allowing for a large cellular
response.
• Kinase Proteins
- Enzyme that adds a phosphate to an amino acid
-Dephosphorylation occurs when a phosphate group is _____________________
-Phosphatases: -Enzyme that removes phosphate groups.
-Thus, the signal can be turned on by kinases and off by phosphatases.

-Not all components of signal transduction pathways are proteins.

• -Many signaling pathways involve small, nonprotein water-soluble molecules or ions
called second messengers. Calcium ions and cyclic AMP are two common second
messengers. The second messengers, once activated, can initiate a phosphorylation
cascade resulting in a cellular response.
-Earl Sutherland received the Nobel Prize for his discovery of cAMP as a second messenger.
Sutherland noticed that glycogen was broken down only when a hormone epinephrine was
administered to intact cells. Epinephrine is the ligand (signal molecule) that activates the G
protein-coupled receptor which is responsible for glycogen breakdown. Epinephrine does not
enter the cell, suggesting a second messenger. Only in intact cells could the first messenger
(epinephrine) be translated to a cellular response-glycogen breakdown.

Concept: Response: cell signaling leads to regulation of transcription or cytoplasmic activities

Response-The specific cellular response to the signal molecule.
Signal Transduction results in a cellular response
• Leads to regulation of cytoplasmic activities or _______________________
• Many signaling pathways ultimately regulate protein synthesis, usually by turning on or
off in the nucleus. Often, the final activated molecule in a signaling pathway functions as
a transcription factor.
• In the cytoplasm, signaling pathways often regulate the activity of proteins rather than
their synthesis. For example, the final step in the signaling pathway may affect the
activity of enzymes or cause cytoskeleton rearrangement.
• One of the main responses is a change in protein composition
- Some proteins are activated
- Other proteins are deactivated
How does the cell do this? Phosphorylation!

Concept: Apoptosis integrates multiple-cell signaling pathways

An example of cell signaling is a program of controlled cell suicide called apoptosis.

During apoptosis the cell is systematically dismantled and digested.
This protects neighboring cells from damage that would occur if a dying cell merely leaked out
its digestive and other enzymes
Apoptosis is triggered by signals that activate a cascade of “suicide” proteins in the cell.
In vertebrates (organisms with backbones), apoptosis is a normal part of development and is
essential for a normal nervous system, for the operation of the immune system, and for
normal morphogenesis of hands and feet in humans.
Concept: Feedback regulation and antagonistic hormone pairs are common in endocrine
systems

-Hormones are assembled into regulatory pathways

Simple Hormone Pathways

-Hormones are released from an endocrine cell, travel through the _____________________________, and
interact with specific receptors within a target cell to cause a physiological response
-For example, the release of acidic contents of the stomach into the duodenum stimulates endocrine cells
there to secrete secretin
-This causes target cells in the pancreas, a gland behind the stomach, to raise the pH in the duodenum
-In a simple neuroendocrine pathway, the stimulus is received by a sensory neuron, which stimulates a
neurosecretory cell
-The neurosecretory cell secretes a neurohormone, which enters the bloodstream and travels to target cells

Feedback Regulation

-A ____________________ feedback loop inhibits a response by reducing the initial stimulus, thus preventing
excessive pathway activity
-Positive feedback reinforces a stimulus to produce an even greater response
-For example, in mammals oxytocin causes the release of milk, causing greater suckling by offspring,
which stimulates the release of more oxytocin

Insulin and Glucagon: Control of Blood Glucose

-Insulin (decreases blood glucose) and glucagon (increases blood glucose) are antagonistic hormones that help
maintain glucose homeostasis
-The pancreas has clusters of endocrine cells called pancreatic islets with alpha cells that produce glucagon
and beta cells that produce insulin

Target Tissues for Insulin and Glucagon

Insulin reduces blood glucose levels by
-Promoting the cellular uptake of glucose
-Slowing glycogen breakdown in the liver
-Promoting fat storage, not breakdown

Glucagon increases blood glucose levels by

-Stimulating conversion of glycogen to glucose in the liver
-Stimulating breakdown of fat and protein into glucose