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Related Concept Videos

Eukaryotic Compartmentalization01:37

Eukaryotic Compartmentalization

One of the distinguishing features of eukaryotic cells is that they contain membrane-bound organelles, such as the nucleus and mitochondria, that carry out specialized functions. Since biological membranes are only selectively permeable to solutes, they help create a compartment with controlled conditions inside an organelle. These microenvironments are tailored to the organelle's specific functions and help isolate them from the surrounding cytosol.
For example, lysosomes in the animal cells...
Eukaryotic Compartmentalization01:46

Eukaryotic Compartmentalization

One of the distinguishing features of eukaryotic cells is that they contain membrane-bound organelles, such as the nucleus and mitochondria, that carry out specialized functions. Since biological membranes are only selectively permeable to solutes, they help create a compartment with controlled conditions inside an organelle. These microenvironments are tailored to the organelle's specific functions and help isolate them from the surrounding cytosol.
For example, lysosomes in the animal cells...
Eukaryotic Compartmentalizations01:46

Eukaryotic Compartmentalizations

One of the distinguishing features of eukaryotic cells is that they contain membrane-bound organelles, such as the nucleus and mitochondria, that carry out specialized functions. Since biological membranes are only selectively permeable to solutes, they help create a compartment with controlled conditions inside an organelle. These microenvironments are tailored to the organelle's specific functions and help isolate them from the surrounding cytosol.
For example, lysosomes in the animal cells...
Multicompartment Models: Overview01:14

Multicompartment Models: Overview

Multicompartment models are mathematical constructs that depict how drugs are distributed and eliminated within the body. They segment the body into several compartments, symbolizing various physiological or anatomical areas connected through drug transfer processes such as absorption, metabolism, distribution, and elimination.
These models offer a more comprehensive representation of drug behavior in the body than one-compartment models. They accommodate the complexity of drug distribution,...
Cell Diversity01:13

Cell Diversity

The concept of a cell started with microscopic observations of dead cork tissue by Robert Hooke in 1665. Hooke coined the term "cell" based on the resemblance of the small subdivisions in the cork to the rooms that monks inhabited, called cells. About ten years later, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek became the first person to observe the living and moving cells under a microscope. In the century that followed, the theory that cells represented the basic unit of life developed.
Multicellular organisms...
What are Cells?01:15

What are Cells?

Cells are the smallest and basic units of life, whether it is a single cell that forms the entire organism, e.g., in a bacterium, or trillions of them, e.g., in humans. No matter what organism a cell is a part of, they share specific characteristics.
Basic Characteristics of Cells
A living cell has a plasma membrane, a bilayer of lipids that separates the aqueous solution inside the cell called the cytoplasm from the outside environment.
Furthermore, a living cell possesses genetic information...

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4D Imaging of Protein Aggregation in Live Cells
08:59

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Published on: April 5, 2013

Cellular compartments cause multistability and allow cells to process more information.

Heather A Harrington1, Elisenda Feliu, Carsten Wiuf

  • 1Division of Molecular Biosciences, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom.

Biophysical Journal
|April 23, 2013
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Cellular spatial organization, particularly compartments, is crucial for information processing and multiple response states (multistationarity). Introducing species localization and shuttling enhances control over cellular decision-making.

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Published on: December 18, 2013

Area of Science:

  • Systems Biology
  • Cellular Information Processing
  • Mathematical Biology

Background:

  • Biological, physical, and social interactions are often location-dependent.
  • In eukaryotic cells, protein localization between the nucleus and cytoplasm is vital for regulating gene expression and cellular responses.
  • Understanding spatial organization's role in cellular information processing is key.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To identify and characterize the role of spatial organization in eukaryotic cellular information processing.
  • To investigate how distinct cellular compartments influence multistationarity (multiple response states).
  • To determine conditions that enable or prevent multiple steady states in cellular systems.

Main Methods:

  • Application of recent developments from dynamical systems theory.
  • Utilizing chemical reaction network theory.
  • Combination of different mathematical techniques to develop a heuristic procedure for assessing multistationarity.

Main Results:

  • The existence of distinct cellular compartments is pivotal for a system's capacity for multistationarity.
  • Multistationarity is directly linked to the information signaling molecules can represent within the nucleus.
  • Species localization can alter the capacity for multistationarity; shuttling provides flexibility and control over all-or-nothing cellular responses.

Conclusions:

  • Spatial organization, including compartmentalization and species localization, significantly impacts cellular information processing.
  • Multistationarity, enabled by spatial organization, allows for switching between cellular response states and diverse cellular decision-making.
  • Mathematical modeling confirms that shuttling mechanisms offer enhanced control over cellular signaling dynamics and response outcomes.