Beyond 'furballs' and 'dumpling soups' - towards a molecular architecture of signaling complexes and networks.

The molecular architectures of intracellular signaling networks are largely unknown. Understanding their design principles and mechanisms of processing information is essential to grasp the molecular basis of virtually all biological processes. This is particularly challenging for human pathologies...

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Main Authors: Lewitzky, M, Simister, P, Feller, S
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: 2012
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author Lewitzky, M
Simister, P
Feller, S
author_facet Lewitzky, M
Simister, P
Feller, S
author_sort Lewitzky, M
collection OXFORD
description The molecular architectures of intracellular signaling networks are largely unknown. Understanding their design principles and mechanisms of processing information is essential to grasp the molecular basis of virtually all biological processes. This is particularly challenging for human pathologies like cancers, as essentially each tumor is a unique disease with vastly deranged signaling networks. However, even in normal cells we know almost nothing. A few 'signalosomes', like the COP9 and the TCR signaling complexes have been described, but detailed structural information on their architectures is largely lacking. Similarly, many growth factor receptors, for example EGF receptor, insulin receptor and c-Met, signal via huge protein complexes built on large platform proteins (Gab, Irs/Dok, p130Cas[BCAR1], Frs families etc.), which are structurally not well understood. Subsequent higher order processing events remain even more enigmatic. We discuss here methods that can be employed to study signaling architectures, and the importance of too often neglected features like macromolecular crowding, intrinsic disorder in proteins and the sophisticated cellular infrastructures, which need to be carefully considered in order to develop a more mature understanding of cellular signal processing.
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spelling oxford-uuid:047a8209-91cd-46e2-8e94-168adf1ffb202022-03-26T08:52:03ZBeyond 'furballs' and 'dumpling soups' - towards a molecular architecture of signaling complexes and networks.Journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:047a8209-91cd-46e2-8e94-168adf1ffb20EnglishSymplectic Elements at Oxford2012Lewitzky, MSimister, PFeller, SThe molecular architectures of intracellular signaling networks are largely unknown. Understanding their design principles and mechanisms of processing information is essential to grasp the molecular basis of virtually all biological processes. This is particularly challenging for human pathologies like cancers, as essentially each tumor is a unique disease with vastly deranged signaling networks. However, even in normal cells we know almost nothing. A few 'signalosomes', like the COP9 and the TCR signaling complexes have been described, but detailed structural information on their architectures is largely lacking. Similarly, many growth factor receptors, for example EGF receptor, insulin receptor and c-Met, signal via huge protein complexes built on large platform proteins (Gab, Irs/Dok, p130Cas[BCAR1], Frs families etc.), which are structurally not well understood. Subsequent higher order processing events remain even more enigmatic. We discuss here methods that can be employed to study signaling architectures, and the importance of too often neglected features like macromolecular crowding, intrinsic disorder in proteins and the sophisticated cellular infrastructures, which need to be carefully considered in order to develop a more mature understanding of cellular signal processing.
spellingShingle Lewitzky, M
Simister, P
Feller, S
Beyond 'furballs' and 'dumpling soups' - towards a molecular architecture of signaling complexes and networks.
title Beyond 'furballs' and 'dumpling soups' - towards a molecular architecture of signaling complexes and networks.
title_full Beyond 'furballs' and 'dumpling soups' - towards a molecular architecture of signaling complexes and networks.
title_fullStr Beyond 'furballs' and 'dumpling soups' - towards a molecular architecture of signaling complexes and networks.
title_full_unstemmed Beyond 'furballs' and 'dumpling soups' - towards a molecular architecture of signaling complexes and networks.
title_short Beyond 'furballs' and 'dumpling soups' - towards a molecular architecture of signaling complexes and networks.
title_sort beyond furballs and dumpling soups towards a molecular architecture of signaling complexes and networks
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