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Spatially-localized scaffold proteins may simultaneously boost and supress signaling
by
Xinfeng Liu
University of California at Irvine
Coauthors: Bardwell Lee and Qing Nie
During cell signaling, scaffold proteins are thought to promote both signal transmission and specificity by binding to multiple componnents of a given pathway, but the mechanisms by which they accomplish this are unclear. In this talk, we develop a mathematical model of generic, spatially localized scaffold protein. The model indicates that a scaffold protein could boost signaling locally (i.e. in and near the region where it was localized) while simultaneously supressing at a distance. Furthermore, localization could switch a scaffold from a global inhibitor to a local enhancer to distant supressor. Distant supression was found to be due to reactant sequestration. Thus, spatial localization increases the versatility of scaffold proteins, and creates a novel mechanism by which they can augment signaling specificity.
Date received: April 29, 2008
Copyright © 2008 by the author(s). The author(s) of this document and the organizers of the conference have granted their consent to include this abstract in Atlas Conferences Inc. Document # cawd-40.