p. 232. Signals and Their Perception
- John T. HancockJohn T. HancockProfessor of Cell Signalling, University of the West of England, Bristol
Abstract
This chapter looks at a variety of signalling molecules and discusses how signals are generated and perceived in the absence of a receptor. It examines different types of receptors that transmit messages into or across cells. It also describes cells that are continually bombarded by molecules and environmental factors to which they may need to respond and recognize what they are responding to. The chapter emphasizes the urgency of perception to the survival of the cell itself and to multicellular organisms as a whole. It talks about a protein known as a receptor that has a structure tailored to interact in some way with the arriving signal or signalling molecule, which is referred to as a ligand.
