Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 11, 2025

Author Spotlight: Manipulating Signaling in Zebrafish Embryos to Decode Cell Fate Decisions
Published on: October 27, 2023
Spatial regulation and generation of diversity in signaling pathways
1Institute for Stem Cell Science and Regenerative Medicine, Bellary Road, Bengaluru 560 065, India.
Abstract:
Signaling pathways orchestrate diverse cellular outcomes in the same tissue, spatially and temporally. These interactions, which are played out in micro-environments within cells and involve a relatively small number of core pathways, are the key to the development and function of multi-cellular organisms. How these outcomes are regulated has prompted interest in intracellular mechanisms that build diversity in signaling outcomes. This review specifically addresses spatial positioning of molecules as a means of enabling interactions and novel outcomes of signaling cascades. Using the Notch and Ras pathways as exemplars, we describe mechanisms that contribute to diverse signaling outcomes.
Related Concept Videos
Diversity in Cell Signaling Responses
Graded and Abrupt Responses
Some signaling systems generate...
Interactions Between Signaling Pathways
Convergence and divergence, and cross-talk between signaling pathways
Two distinct signaling pathways can converge on a single functional unit, which may either be a single protein or a complex of proteins. The response is either functionally distinct or synergistic between the two pathways but different from the response...
Overview of Cell Signaling
Cells respond to many types of information, often through receptor proteins positioned on the membrane. For example, skin cells respond to and transmit touch...
Notch Signaling Pathway
The Notch gene came into the limelight in 1914 after the discovery that its mutation in Drosophila melanogaster leads to a serrated (or "notched") wing margin phenotype. It was not...
Regulation of Expression Occurs at Multiple Steps
Transcription results in the generation of precursor (pre-mRNA) that consists of both exons and introns, which needs further processing before being translated to a...
Regulation of Expression Occurs at Multiple Steps

