Biology 2382B Study Guide - Growth Factor, Exocytosis, Threonine

• School: Western University
• Department: Biology
• Course: Biology 2382B
• Professor: Sashko Damjanovski

Document Summary

Signal transduction is the conversion of one signal into another and it involves the external stimulus of growth factors, cytokines, hormones, the ecm, neurotransmitters, light, sound, etc. The field of signal transduction is incredibly broad as it covers all aspects of normal development and physiology in cells. Understanding how signal transduction works can give us insight as to how certain diseases such as cancer and heart disease are initiated. Important players in signal transduction include: receptor tyrosine kinases (rtks), g-protein coupled. Receptors, proto-oncogenes (e. g. ras), and mitogen activated protein kinases (mapks). No human cells live in isolation, which is why communication between cells is often mediated mainly by extracellular signal molecules. All cells receive and respond to signals from their environment. Receptors (both cell-surface and intracellular) are another important component of cell signalling as they transmit signals by interacting with other effector proteins (causing them to change their function or activity) or second messengers (e. g. ca2+, camp, cgmp, ip3,