Biology › Section E · Cell communication and the cell cycle › Topic E.1
Signaling molecules and receptors
Cells have no mouths, so they talk in chemistry: one cell releases a small molecule, and only cells carrying the matching receptor respond. Here you will meet the four ways signals travel - to nearby cells, distant cells, the cell itself, and straight through junctions between neighbors - and the two kinds of receptors, internal and cell-surface, that turn a molecular handshake into action.
In this topic
- Cells talk in chemistry
- Paracrine signaling: talk to your neighbors
- Endocrine signaling: talk to the whole body
- Autocrine signaling and direct contact
- Internal receptors: straight to the genes
- Cell-surface receptors: the gatekeepers
- Ion channels and G proteins
- Enzyme-linked receptors: the tyrosine kinase
- Worked example: how a virus picks its host
- Worked example: cholera's locked-on switch
- Common mistakes to avoid
- Key takeaways
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