Cell Communication & Cell Cycle

Flashcards covering cell communication and the cell cycle, including types of signaling and the stages of cell signaling.

How do cells communicate with one another?

Cells communicate through chemical signals, cell-to-cell contact, or cell signaling.

What is the role of communication in organisms?

Communication involves transduction of stimulatory or inhibitory signals from other cells, organisms, or the environment, allowing coordination and adaptation.

What is quorum sensing?

A type of communication used by single-celled organisms to coordinate and work together.

How do cells typically communicate?

Cells communicate using chemical signals, such as proteins or other molecules, that are secreted and released into the extracellular space.

What is a ligand?

A general term for molecules that bind specifically to other molecules, such as receptors.

How is an intercellular signal converted into an intracellular signal?

A ligand binds to a receptor, triggering a change inside the cell that leads to alteration in gene activity or induction of a process.

What are the common signaling molecules?

Hormones (long-range) and neurotransmitters (local regulators).

What are the four basic categories of chemical signaling in multicellular organisms?

Paracrine, autocrine, endocrine, and signaling by direct contact (juxtracrine).

What is paracrine signaling?

Cells communicate over short distances through the release of chemical messengers.

What is synaptic signaling?

A unique example of paracrine signaling in which nerve cells transmit signals across a synapse.

What is autocrine signaling?

A cell signals to itself by releasing a ligand that binds to receptors on its own surface.

What is endocrine signaling?

Cells transmit signals over long distances using the circulatory system, with hormones carrying signals to target cells in distant parts of the body.

What is juxtracrine signaling?

Signaling through direct cell-cell contact via cell junctions or molecules protruding from their surfaces.

What are the three stages of cell signaling according to Earl W. Sutherland?

Reception, transduction, and response.

What happens during the Reception stage?

A signaling molecule binds to a receptor protein.

What happens during the Transduction stage?

The signal is converted into a form that can produce a cellular response, often involving a second messenger.

What happens during the Response stage?

The transduced signal triggers a cellular response, such as catalysis, gene activation, or apoptosis.