BIOLOGY 2A03 Study Guide - Neuron, Molecular Switch, Signal Transduction
28 Oct 2013
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Cell communication: cells must communicate to coordinate their activities in multicellular organisms. Cell signaling evolved early in the history of life. Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the yeast of bread, wine, and beer, identifies potential mates by chemical signaling. There are two sexes, a and , each of which secretes a specific signaling molecule, a factor and factor, respectively. These factors each bind to receptor proteins on the other mating type. Once the mating factors have bound to the receptors, the two cells grow toward each other and undergo other cellular changes. The two cells fuse, or mate, to form an a/ cell containing the genes of both cells. The process by which a signal on a cell"s surface is converted into a specific cellular response is a series of steps called a signal-transduction pathway. The molecular details of these pathways are strikingly similar in yeast and animal cells, even though their last common ancestor lived more than a billion years ago.
