The upstream

signaling pathway 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 both prokaryotes and eukary ...

is triggered by the binding of a signaling molecule, a

ligand In coordination chemistry, a ligand is an ion or molecule with a functional group that binds to a central metal atom to form a coordination complex. The bonding with the metal generally involves formal donation of one or more of the ligand's el ...

, to a receiving molecule, a

receptor Receptor may refer to: * Sensory receptor, in physiology, any neurite structure that, on receiving environmental stimuli, produces an informative nerve impulse *Receptor (biochemistry), in biochemistry, a protein molecule that receives and respond ...

. Receptors and ligands exist in many different forms, and only recognize/bond to particular molecules. Upstream extracellular signaling transduce a variety of intracellular cascades. Receptors and ligands are common upstream signaling molecules that dictate the downstream elements of the signal pathway. A plethora of different factors affect which ligands bind to which receptors and the downstream cellular response that they initiate.

TGF-β

The extracellular type II and type I kinase receptors binding to the TGF-β ligands. Transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) is a superfamily of cytokines that play a significant upstream role in regulating of

morphogenesis Morphogenesis (from the Greek ''morphê'' shape and ''genesis'' creation, literally "the generation of form") is the biological process that causes a cell, tissue or organism to develop its shape. It is one of three fundamental aspects of deve ...

homeostasis In biology, homeostasis (British English, British also homoeostasis; ) is the state of steady internal physics, physical and chemistry, chemical conditions maintained by organism, living systems. This is the condition of optimal functioning fo ...

, cell proliferation, and differentiation. The significance of TGF-β is apparent with the human diseases that occur when TGF-β processes are disrupted, such as cancer, and skeletal, intestinal and cardiovascular diseases. TGF-β is

pleiotropic Pleiotropy () is a condition in which a single gene or genetic variant influences multiple phenotypic traits. A gene that has such multiple effects is referred to as a ''pleiotropic gene''. Mutations in pleiotropic genes can impact several trait ...

and multifunctional, meaning they are able to act on a wide variety of cell types.

Mechanism

The effects of transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) are determined by cellular context. There are three kinds of contextual factors that determine the shape the TGF-β response: the

signal transduction Signal transduction is the process by which a chemical or physical signal is transmitted through a cell as a biochemical cascade, series of molecular events. Proteins responsible for detecting stimuli are generally termed receptor (biology), rece ...

components, the

transcriptional Transcription is the process of copying a segment of DNA into RNA for the purpose of gene expression. Some segments of DNA are transcribed into RNA molecules that can encode proteins, called messenger RNA (mRNA). Other segments of DNA are transc ...

cofactors and the

epigenetic In biology, epigenetics is the study of changes in gene expression that happen without changes to the DNA sequence. The Greek prefix ''epi-'' (ἐπι- "over, outside of, around") in ''epigenetics'' implies features that are "on top of" or "in ...

state of the cell. The different ligands and receptors of TGF-β are significant as well in the composition signal transduction pathway. * the signal transduction components: ligand isoforms, ligand traps,

co-receptor A co-receptor is a cell surface receptor that binds a signalling molecule in addition to a primary receptor in order to facilitate Ligand (biochemistry), ligand recognition and initiate biological processes, such as entry of a pathogen into a host ...

s, receptor sub-types, inhibitory SMAD proteins, crosstalk inputs * the transcriptional cofactors of SMAD proteins: pluripotency factors, lineage regulators, DNA-binding cofactors,

HATs A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...

and HDACs,

SNF SNF may refer to: Organizations * National League of Sweden (previously ''Sveriges Nationella Förbund''), youth organisation * SNF Floerger, polyacrylamide manufacturer * Somali National Front, a political armed movement * Stavros Niarchos Fou ...

, chromatin readers * the epigenetic factors:

heterochromatin Heterochromatin is a tightly packed form of DNA or '' condensed DNA'', which comes in multiple varieties. These varieties lie on a continuum between the two extremes of constitutive heterochromatin and facultative heterochromatin. Both play a rol ...

pluripotency Cell potency is a cell's ability to differentiate into other cell types. The more cell types a cell can differentiate into, the greater its potency. Potency is also described as the gene activation potential within a cell, which like a continuum ...

marks, lineage marks, EMT marks, iPS cell marks,

oncogenic Carcinogenesis, also called oncogenesis or tumorigenesis, is the formation of a cancer, whereby normal cells are transformed into cancer cells. The process is characterized by changes at the cellular, genetic, and epigenetic levels and abno ...

marks.

Upstream pathway

The type II receptors phosphorylate the type I receptors; the type I receptors are then enabled to phosphorylate cytoplasmic R-Smads, which then act as transcriptional regulators. Signaling is initiated by the binding of TGF-β to its serine/threonine receptors. The serene/threonine receptors are the type II and type I receptors on the cell membrane. Binding of a TGF-β members induces assembly of a heterotetrameric complex of two type I and two type II receptors at the

plasma membrane The cell membrane (also known as the plasma membrane or cytoplasmic membrane, and historically referred to as the plasmalemma) is a biological membrane that separates and protects the interior of a cell from the outside environment (the extr ...

. Individual members of the TGF-β family bind to a certain set of characteristic combination of these type I and type II receptors. The type I receptors can be divided into two groups, which depends on the cytoplasmic R-Smads that they bind and phosphorylate. The first group of type I receptors (Alk1/2/3/6) bind and activate the R-Smads, Smad1/5/8. The second group of type I reactors (Alk4/5/7) act on the R-Smads, Smad2/3. The phosphorylated R-Smads then form complexes and the signals are funneled through two regulatory Smad (R-Smad) channels (Smad1/5/8 or Smad2/3). After the ligand-receptor complexes phosphorylate the cytoplasmic R-Smads, the signal is then sent through Smad 1/5/8 or Smad 2/3. This leads to the downstream signal cascade and cellular gene targeting.

Downstream pathway

TGF-β regulates multiple downstream processes and cellular functions. The pathway is highly variable based on cellular context. TGF-β downstream signaling cascade includes regulation of cell growth,

cell proliferation Cell proliferation is the process by which ''a cell grows and divides to produce two daughter cells''. Cell proliferation leads to an exponential increase in cell number and is therefore a rapid mechanism of tissue growth. Cell proliferation ...

cell differentiation Cellular differentiation is the process in which a stem cell changes from one type to a differentiated one. Usually, the cell changes to a more specialized type. Differentiation happens multiple times during the development of a multicellular ...

, and

apoptosis Apoptosis (from ) is a form of programmed cell death that occurs in multicellular organisms and in some eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms such as yeast. Biochemistry, Biochemical events lead to characteristic cell changes (Morphology (biol ...

References

{{Reflist Molecular biology Orientation (geometry)

TGF-β

Mechanism

Upstream pathway

Downstream pathway

See also

References