Essay on Cell Communication

Cell Communication Term Papers

While the free essays can give you inspiration for writing, they cannot be used 'as is' because they will not meet your assignment's requirements. If you are in a time crunch, then you need a custom written term paper on your subject (cell communication)
Here you can hire an independent writer/researcher to custom write you an authentic essay to your specifications that will pass any plagiarism test (e.g. Turnitin). Waste no more time!

Title: Cell Communication: The Inside Story

Date: June 20, 2000

Authors: John D. Scott and Tony Pawson

Source: Scientific American.com



Discovered by Robert Hooke, cells are the smallest basic unit of life in all living organisms. Often called the building block of life, all cells have unique functions and features. One of its features is that cells are able to communicate with one another by sending and receiving signals. By understanding how signal transmission works in cells, scientists are able to find new ways for attacking diseases caused by mutations.

All living organisms are able to function properly because of the precise signaling in cells. Through research, scientists discovered that signal transmission occurs when messenger molecules, such as hormones, docks temporarily with receptors molecules that are physically connected to the cytoplasm. These receptors will then relay the messenger’s command down specific signaling pathways to molecules within a cell that responds to the message. It is said that the receptor is usually a protein that contains at least three domains: an external docking region for the messengers, a component that spans the outer membrane of a cell, and lastly a tail that extends into the cytoplasm. When the messenger binds to the external site, it generates a change in the shape of the tail. This eases the tail’s interactions with the information-relaying molecules in the cytoplasm, which lead to more cellular signaling.

To fully understand about cell communication, more research was conducted. Effort began to indentify the first cytoplasm proteins that are contacted by activated (messenger-bound) receptors in a large and important family known as the receptor tyrosine kinases. In the 1980s, researchers at New York University made a ground breaking discovery. The binding of hormones to receptors kinases at the cell surface causes individual receptors molecules to cluster into pairs and to attach phosphate to the tyrosines on each other’s cytoplasmic tails. The altered receptors interact directly with proteins that contain a module called an SH2 domain. The SH2 domain is refer to sequence of about 100 amino acids that exhibits a three-dimensional structure within a protein. Soon researchers discovered that messages were transmitted within cells through enzymatic reactions. Surprising, the receptors didn’t necessary alter the chemistry of the SH2-containing proteins. Many simply activated the SH2 domains to latch onto the phosphate-decorated tyrosines. Although the researchers stumbled...

The rest of the paper is available free of charge to our registered users. The registration process just couldn't be easier. Log in or register now. It is all free!
You should cite this paper as follows:

MLA Style
. EssayMania.com. Retrieved on 22 Feb, 2012 from
    <http://essaymania.com/170704/cell-communication>

More College Papers

How V for Vendetta and Blade Runner present their ideas.
Intro: Often, visual texts are able to present ideas through the director’s use of certain film conventions and techniques; and therefore encourage viewers to respond to them. This is evident in the films of Blade Runner and V For Vendetta created by Ridley Scott and James McTeigue, respectively.

Barack Obama\'s Media Campaign
President Barack Obama was born to a American mother, Ann Dunham, and Kenyan father, Barack Obama Sr., on August 4 1961 in Honolulu Hawaii. His parents split when he was two years old and his father left to pursue his PhD at Harvard University. His father later returned alone to Kenya in 1965, wher

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
by Luella Rae Friesen `The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T. S Eliot (1888-1965) I have decided to write my essay on, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” written by T. S. Eliot. According to author and teacher Michael Cummings of “The Great Works of World Literature,” Eliot ori