Cell Signaling and Energy Production

These flashcards cover key vocabulary and concepts from lectures about cell signaling, energy production, and the cell cycle.

Extracellular Signals

Signals that travel through the bloodstream or act on adjacent cells.

Apoptotic Cell Suicide

Cell death triggered by certain extracellular signal molecules.

Effector Proteins

Proteins that carry out changes in the target cell in response to signals.

Cyclic AMP (cAMP)

A second messenger synthesized from ATP, involved in signaling pathways.

Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factors (GEFs)

Proteins that facilitate the exchange of GDP for GTP, activating G-proteins.

Phospholipase C

An enzyme that hydrolyzes phospholipids in signal transduction pathways.

MAP Kinase Cascade

A series of phosphorylation events initiated by Ras that regulates cellular processes.

Activation of Protein Kinase A (PKA)

Involves the binding of cAMP, leading to downstream effects such as gene expression.

Chemiosmotic Coupling

The process by which ATP is synthesized using the energy from an electrochemical gradient.

Ras Protein

A small GTP-binding protein that plays a key role in cell signaling pathways.

Cell Cycle Phases

The cell cycle consists of G1, S, G2, and M phases.

Cyclin-Cdk Complexes

Regulatory complexes that control progression through the cell cycle.

Retinoblastoma Protein (Rb)

A key regulator in G1 that inhibits transcription for S phase entry.

p53 Protein

A transcription factor activated in response to DNA damage, promoting cell cycle arrest or apoptosis.

Mitosis

The process of nuclear division, including prophase, metaphase, anaphase, and telophase.

Cytokinesis

The division of the cytoplasm, resulting in two separate daughter cells.

Apoptosis

A programmed cell death mechanism that can be activated by p53 in response to severe DNA damage.