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Cell junctions are also especially important in enabling communication between neighboring cells via specialized protein complexes called communicating (gap) junctions. Cell junctions are also important in reducing stress placed upon cells. In plants, similar communication channels are known as plasmodesmata, and in fungi they are called septal ...
In biology, cell signaling (cell signalling in British English) is the process by which a cell interacts with itself, other cells, and the environment. Cell signaling is a fundamental property of all cellular life in prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Typically, the signaling process involves three components: the signal, the receptor, and the effector.
Autocrine signaling is a form of cell signaling in which a cell secretes a hormone or chemical messenger (called the autocrine agent) that binds to autocrine receptors on that same cell, leading to changes in the cell. [1] This can be contrasted with paracrine signaling, intracrine signaling, or classical endocrine signaling.
Allows for direct electrical communication between cells, although different hemichannel subunits can impart different single channel conductances, from about 30 pS to 500 pS. Allows for chemical communication between cells through the transmission of small second messengers, such as inositol triphosphate (IP 3) and calcium (Ca 2+
The same cells that recognize PAMPs on microbial pathogens may bind to the antigen of a foreign blood cell and recognize it as a pathogen because the antigen is unfamiliar. [11] It is not easy to classify red blood cell recognition as intrinsic or extrinsic, as a foreign cell may be recognized as part of the organism if it has the right antigens.
Several types of cells support an action potential, such as plant cells, muscle cells, and the specialized cells of the heart (in which occurs the cardiac action potential). However, the main excitable cell is the neuron , which also has the simplest mechanism for the action potential.
The idea that intercellular communication is so similar among cells within an organism as well as cells between different organisms, even prey, is demonstrated by vinnexin. [51] This protein is a modified form of an innexin protein found in a caterpillar.
The cell is the basic structural and functional unit of all forms of life. Every cell consists of cytoplasm enclosed within a membrane; many cells contain organelles, each with a specific function. The term comes from the Latin word cellula meaning 'small room'. Most cells are only visible under a microscope.