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Abstract: Calcium oscillations play an important role in intracellular signal transduction. As a second messenger, ▫$Ca^{2+}$▫ represents a link between several input signals and several target processes in the cell. Whereas the frequency of simple ▫$Ca^{2+}$▫ oscillations enables a selective activation of a specific protein and herewith a particular process, the question arises of how at the same time two or more classes of proteins can be specifically regulated. The question is general and concerns the problem of how one second messenger can transmit more than one signal simultaneously (bow-tie structure of signalling). To investigate whether a complex ▫$Ca^{2+}$▫ signal like bursting, a succession of low-peak and high-peak oscillatory phases, could selectively activate different proteins, several bursting patterns with simplified square pulses were applied in a theoretical model. The results indicate that bursting ▫$Ca^{2+}$▫ oscillations allow a differential regulation of two different calcium-binding proteins, and hence, perform the desired function.
Keywords: biophysics, calcium oscillations, cellular dynamics, mathematical models, signalling, bow-tie structures, bursting, decoding
Published in DKUM: 07.06.2012; Views: 2022; Downloads: 39
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