Virtual Laboratory Activity - BIOL 1121 - Unit 5
Data Collection and Result
While you are working on this virtual lab activity, please record your data in the tables
below.
1. Data Collection Tables
Cell Type Light Nitric Oxide Cytokine/Growth Hormone
Factor
Muscle Ultra violet light Relax de cells Responde by Take nutrients
damage cell dna divide the cell in
two
Photoreceptor Generate a signal Make it throung Don’t respond Don’t respond
light adaptation
Cancer Ultra violet light Iniciate cell Start dividing fast Become unstuck
damage cell dna death, also from its
knows as neighbors
apoptosis
Leaf Undergo Grow and divde Don’t respond Don’t respond
Parenchyma photosyntesus
Fibroblast Don’t respond Become another Start dividing Star releasing
cell protein
2. Questions
Based on your observations and from your readings of the chapter answer the following
questions:
1. What type of biomolecules are receptors?
Receptors are primarily proteins. These specialized proteins are typically located
either on the cell surface or within the cytoplasm/nucleus
2. Once triggered, how is the signal processed inside the cell? Once a receptor is
triggered by its ligand the signal is processed inside the cell through a series of steps this
typically involves a sequence of molecular events, often including protein
phosphorylation or dephosphorylation, conformational changes in proteins, and the
activation of various enzymes or other signaling molecules
3. What are the most common receptors for growth factors? The most common
receptors for growth factors are receptor tyrosine kinases
4. What types of signaling proteins are common in animals but absent from plant cells,
and vice versa? In animals, G protein coupled receptors and their associated G proteins,
as well as many types of receptor tyrosine kinases, are very common signaling proteins.
While plants have some receptor kinases, protein signaling mechanisms are generally
absent or significantly different in plants
5. How does signaling by hydrophobic molecules like steroid hormones differ from
signaling by peptide hormones? Signaling by hydrophobic molecules like steroid
hormones differs significantly from that of peptide hormones primarily in their mode of
entry and receptor location. Hydrophobic steroid hormones can readily diffuse directly
across the cells lipid bilayer membrane because of their nonpolar nature. Their receptors
are typically intracellular proteins (either in the cytoplasm or nucleus).
6. NO (nitric oxide) does not have a specific cellular receptor. How, then, does it act as a
signaling molecule? is a unique signaling molecule because it is a small, gaseous, and
highly diffusible molecule that does not rely on a specific cell surface receptor. Instead,
NO acts by directly diffusing across the cell membrane and binding to intracellular target
proteins. Its primary target is often guanylyl cyclase, an enzyme that catalyzes the
production of cyclic a second messenger.
7. Discuss the validity of the following proposition. A signaling molecule (hormone,
growth factor, or neurotransmitter) elicits identical responses in different types of target
cells if they contain identical receptors. Cite an example.
8. What is the relationship between signal transduction pathways and second
messengers? Basically, signal transduction pathways are the entire series of molecular
events that relay a signal from the cells exterior to its interior, ultimately leading to a
cellular response. Second messengers are smal non protein, intracelular signalin
molecules that are generated or released in response to the activation of a cell-surface
receptor
9. Why are some hormone receptors intracellular proteins? What are some dangers of
nonmedical use of steroids and growth hormones? intracellular proteins because their
hydrophobic nature allows them to easily pass directly through the lipid bilayer of the
cell membrane. Once inside, they bind to their intracellular receptors, and the hormone-
receptor complex often moves to the nucleus to directly regulate gene transcription.
10. What effects does amplification have on the signal transduction pathway?
